


FanganRonpa: The Prisoners' Dilemma

by thatoneguy22



Series: FanganRonpa: Chronicles of Despair [2]
Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Fangan Ronpa, Fanganronpa, Original Character(s), Original Female Character(s) - Freeform, Original Male Character(s) - Freeform, killing game
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-16 03:00:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 11
Words: 68,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29446683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatoneguy22/pseuds/thatoneguy22
Summary: Vanessa Huang is the Ultimate Student, a pinnacle of what it means to be a highschooler. She also happens to be a criminal. Much like the other 15 residents of Halfway Home Detention Center, she'll be forced to find out what it truly means to commit a crime. After all, there's no greater crime to commit than the taking of life...right?Currently at: Chapter 1 [DEADLY LIFE]
Series: FanganRonpa: Chronicles of Despair [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1967314
Comments: 17
Kudos: 11





	1. Prologue: What It Takes to Make a Criminal - Part I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The next story begins! With it, we get introduced to the new cast of characters, and it seems like harmony isn't in the cards here. Who knows how everyone will stand up to this game like that? The scheduling will follow similarly to the last fic, where I try to post a part of each chapter a day, then take a break between chapters. You can still follow the blog to get a better look at the character art, as well as getting the updates for each chapter.  
> https://www.tumblr.com/blog/danganronpa-chronicles-of-hope
> 
> \-----
> 
> Vanessa Huang is on her way to Halfway Home Detention Center, a facility owned and run by the TYCP to keep track of the first group of criminally charged students. Things seem a little off as she arrives, but when faced with the fifteen other students, she can really only think of one thing: annoyance.

**Prologue: What It Takes to Make a Criminal [START!]**

Some people like to say a phrase when it comes to crime. _You didn’t commit a crime if no one catches you._ It’s supposed to be silly, something you don’t take seriously. But what if it was true? What if crime became irrelevant so long as you were never caught? What would you do if that was the case?

I’d have been more careful. Then I’d still be at home. I wouldn’t have to be going to this detention center by boat. I’d probably be studying for my next test as we speak, but all of my textbooks were sent ahead of time. It’s just me, my thoughts, and the waves outside the window.

I’d be the last person one would ever expect to be getting shipped out to a detention center. Still, it’s better than the jail time I’d likely be serving for...for...f...o...r...

I wince, putting a hand gently to my head. I must be getting seasick now. Hopefully, this migraine dies down soon.

I just need to collect my thoughts and focus on something else. Let’s see...my name is Vanessa Huang. I’m the Ultimate Student, part of Vietnam's sector of the Talented Youth Cultivation Program. I’m dressed in my old school uniform, a lime-colored jacket with a crest pin over my white button-up shirt and a black tie with a clip on the end. I wore a dark purple skirt with lighter purple trimmings, as well as knee-high blue socks and sneakers with the same purples as my skirt. My shoulder-length hair was cut and well kept, except for the strand that always stuck up at the top of my head. I’m currently being sent to Halfway Home Detention Center. It was made by the TYCP to handle the students in the program that were...less than couth.

For instance, I’m being sent there because...ngh, my head. Trying to think about it hurts. It’s like a thick static is being laid over my mind and trying to crush it. I’m being sent here...because...drugs. Right, that's it. I was selling drugs to classmates to help them ‘focus’ on their studies. And then I got caught.

I think...the practice had started before I started going to a new school. My parents didn’t really know about it, but between all the studying, tutoring, and extracurriculars that ate away at my free time, I needed to be making an income somehow. I suppose it wasn’t the most ethical choice to make, but it was the most logical. I was at the top of my class--the entire school, actually--so all the people coming to me for tutoring who were stressed and tired and struggling were easy targets to sell to. Mother would have been proud...

My brows furrow a bit. Why did I think that..? My parents...well, my father is easy to understand because he’s a simple man. An American that moved to Vietnam for work, he fell head-over-heels for Mother almost instantly. Those two have been in love for twenty years now. Mother is a lot more straightforward and serious than he is. She...She...

“G-Gah!” I put both hands to my head, that thick static starting to buzz louder. I could feel it pulse under my hands like the static was trying to expand it outward. “What...is...this..?” My voice came out far more strained than I was expecting it to.

_HOOOONK! HOOOOONK!_

A loud blaring sound rang out through the air and the static seemed to simply lift from my mind once my attention was drawn away from it. I sit up again, moving my hands away from my head to look out the window. I could see it now that we were coming up to it.

The detention center had been built onto an island that the program had purchased for this exact construction. If I had to wager a guess, it was to keep all of us out of sight and out of mind until we could be reformed or punished or whatever they planned to drill into our heads here. TYCP students from around the world were being shipped here, about a class’s worth, to make sure their idea is even viable. It’s...odd, though. I thought I’d only been on the boat for maybe half an hour. Maybe I just didn’t notice how long we’d been out on the sea.

I stand up from my seat and make my way outside the cabin I was in, stepping onto the deck in the warmth of the afternoon sun. The boat comes up to the edge of the island and docks. I wait patiently for a captain or some cabin boy to come out and properly prepare a way off the boat, such as a ramp of some kind...but no one comes. I seemed to be alone.

“Ridiculous...” I shake my head and go over to the edge of the boat. A part of the railing opened like a gate, so I push it open and hop onto the dock. It wasn’t too large of a gap, at least. I make my way to the building. It was large and imposing, in a sense. Cold grey concrete with windows blocked by metal bars. It was drab and cold and lifeless. Well, it _is_ a prison...

I sigh and stop in front of the front doors. I look over my shoulder, but the boat that dropped me off had already pulled away from the dock. Doubtful that I’d make it if I swam back, so the only way was forward. I open the front doors and step into the building.

The space I entered was an...indoor garden, I believe. A strange area to walk into, but it was a nice reprise from the cold exterior the detention center seemed to present itself with. There was a large tree in the center of the room that reached up high above us, the top of it brushing against the glass ceiling that filled the room with natural lighting. Surrounding the tree were flower beds of various types, such as roses and tulips and sunflowers. Some well-trimmed shrubs sat as barriers between benches that lined both walls. It seemed like an absolutely lovely place to sit down and study, really.

...if not for the fifteen other people currently in the room, all of whom were looking at me now. Presumably, they don’t all speak Vietnamese. Lucky for them, then, that I’m fluent in about ten languages, including English.

“Can I help you all?” I ask. If my insincere tone didn’t get them to go back to whatever they were doing, perhaps my naturally angry resting face will. I’ve been told it makes me seem unapproachable. I take it as a compliment.

“Is this everyone?” a girl with bright red hair asks.

“I was informed there would be sixteen of us,” another girl says, who glances up from a tablet in her hands.

“Well, the door leading in is still locked!” a short boy with a crown demands. “This is ridiculous service! I will find who is responsible and have them punished!”

I’m getting a migraine again. But now it’s for different reasons.

“If we’re going to be stuck in here for the foreseeable future, I think it’s about time we began introducing ourselves,” a boy in a suit comments.

“Oh, my, your names have been revealed to me so long ago,” a short girl in a robe announces. “Perhaps there shall be more to see, though.”

Attention was away from me again as people began to speak amongst themselves. I lean against the wall next to the front door. There was another door on the other side of the room with a camera and a monitor above it. Sounds like we can’t go through there, though. I’ll just wait here until it’s open.

After a couple of minutes, though, someone finally decides to approach me. It was a stout girl wearing a brown cardigan over a white button-up shirt, along with a pink skirt that had a purple swirl design, white knee-length socks, and brown shoes with pink bows on them. She also had on a purple scarf with yellow spirals, as well as a pair of glasses with spirals on them, too. Her hair was done with a curl in the front and on top, and two large bun-like curls in the back. She had a big smile on her rosy cheeks as she walked up to me. I could see a name tag clipped to her cardigan that read _Melody Brooks_ with a small portrait of her next to it.

“Hello! It’s an absolute pleasure to meet you!” the girl, presumably Melody, practically sang. She holds out her hand to me. I shake it but otherwise stay quiet.

“My name is Melody Brooks, Ultimate Librarian. And who are you?”

“Vanessa Huang, Ultimate Student.”

“Oh! I’m sure you’re quite well-read as the Ultimate Student. I’d love to discuss some literature you’d be familiar with if you find yourself with the time.”

“You’re a bit more talkative than I would expect the Ultimate Librarian to be.”

“I just get so giddy when thinking about literature, and you seem like the person here who could hold some splendid conversations with me about it!”

If nothing else, Melody is one of the least annoying people here so far. She seems like someone I could hold a real conversation with. And she’s nice enough. Still, that begs the question...

“How did you end up here? Hard to believe you’re one of the lucky sixteen.”

“Oh, that...” Melody’s head slumps forward a little, a frown tugging on her lips. “Theft...I’m not proud of it, but I would steal books from bookstores to put in my library. I got caught for it, and by that point, I had so many stolen books...it was either this or jail.”

I’m sure that’s how it is for everyone. It was this or jail. The choice seems obvious.

“What about you?” Melody lifts her head up again.

“I was selling drugs to students. Some kid got caught by his parents, I was ratted out, and...here I am.” I gesture vaguely with my hands.

“Oh, dear...well, I think this is just the perfect time to make up for past mistakes then!”

I wouldn’t exactly call constant theft and high school drug operations to be simple ‘mistakes’, but I also didn’t want to put Melody down right now.

“Well!” Melody claps her hands together. “Would you mind coming with me to meet the other students? They’re, erm...a little intimidating.”

I look over at the others. They really weren’t, if I’m being frank, but Melody is smaller than me. Her crime seems like one of the least dangerous, as well. Who knows what the others are in for.

“I can do that, _Chóng mặt_.”

“Ah, wonderful! Thank you so much, Vanessa! I already feel at ease.”

I walk over to the nearest student with Melody. It was a larger boy, his body clearly muscular and fit. Not to mention, he was tall, too. He wore a black shirt that had white long sleeves and a thick turtleneck-styled muffler. _S.C._ was on the front of his shirt in white, the lettering looking like it was slashed into the fabric. He had on red pants...or maybe they were tights? As well as brown combat boots. His hands seemed coarse and his nails ended in sharp points. He wore a red cape that seemed to perpetually flutter behind him. Most notably, however, was the mask he wore. It was clearly rubber of some kind, though it looked like a calico, with red markings forming the eyebrows, a mouth and nose, and around the eyes. A black spot to the left over that eye, orange over the right ear, brown on the right cheek, and the rest a light cream. His yellow eyes seemed to shine in the darkness under the mask.

“Hello there, citizens!” he booms out. Ugh, migraine’s back. Maybe I should have told Melody no after all...

“Hello!” Melody chirps back. “It’s a pleasure to meet you! I’m Melody Brooks, the Ultimate Librarian!” She holds out her hand, to which the other shakes it. I get the feeling she practiced that introduction...

“And who might you be?” the guy says in his still booming voice as he looked at me.

“Be quieter,” I respond. “We’re inside.”

He seemed taken back by the harshness of my tone, but I wasn’t exactly in the mood to play nice. Melody quickly steps in front of me. “This is Vanessa Huang, she’s the Ultimate Student!”

“Right!” the cat-masked person responds in a softer tone. “Then, allow me to make myself known! I’m Super Cat, your friendly neighborhood Ultimate Superhero!” His voice got louder as he spoke and he was back to that booming sound.

“Woah, a real-life superhero! That’s so amazing!” Melody was already star struck. “Do you have your own comic book? I’d love to have some for my library back home!”

I didn’t take Melody as the type to read comics, though I suppose they are _technically_ books. “What did a superhero do to get stuck here?” I ask.

Super Cat’s shoulders slump. “Oh, that...well, uh...what I do is considered...illegal. And people were starting to take issue with that...”

“Vigilantism,” I say. “That’s the word you’re looking for.”

Super Cat’s head hangs low. “I just want to help people...”

“Well, if it makes you feel better, that’s why I’m here,” Melody says. “I stole books from bookstores to put in my library. I wanted people to have more access to books they could enjoy and I saw all those price tags that I knew were turning away new readers so I just...acted.”

“You’re a thief?!” Super Cat suddenly jumps back up again. “How could you do something like that?!”

“Eek!” Melody dives behind me, peeking out shyly.

I let out a sigh. “Volume...besides, I don’t see you in the position to morally judge the rest of us. You’re stuck here, too, _Mèo con_.”

“Well..!” Super Cat’s shoulders slump again. “...sorry...” he murmurs.

“Let’s go, _Chóng mặt_.” I walk away from the hero, Melody now sticking close behind.

We approach the girl who was holding a tablet before. She has curly red hair that was tied back into a ponytail under the black baseball cap she wore. Her eyes were a cool purple and seemed perpetually uninterested, resting on a pale face dotted in freckles. She wore a dark purple turtleneck with a black vest over it, as well as purple jeans and black boots. She also had on black fingerless gloves and a headset that I doubt was actually receiving or transmitting anything. She didn’t look at us as we approached her, so I had to clear my throat.

“Yes?” She looks up at me with cold indifference.

“We’re here to introduce ourselves. That’s what everyone seems to be doing at the moment.”

“Oh, that.” She looks back at her tablet. “Let me fit that into my schedule and...done.” She lowers the tablet, giving us her attention again. “Carrie Mathers, Ultimate Stage Technician. Although, while I tend to do most of my work for stage plays, I’m flexible on what I work with.”

Melody and I introduce ourselves to her. “So, what are you in for?” I ask.

“I don’t see how that’s any of your business,” Carrie responds apathetically. “I don’t care what either of you have done, for that matter. I have far more important things to do. I’m still trying to reorganize my schedule.”

“I suppose this entire situation would have to put a damper on that,” Melody comments. “I hope you can get it figured out!”

“I will if you’d stop talking to me. I already had to move things around for this introduction...”

How organized was her life exactly? Even if I did ask her, I doubt she’d take the time to answer. “Let’s leave _Máy móc_ to her scheduling,” I say, gently guiding Melody away.

We approach a boy who was sitting on a bench. My nose crinkles a little bit as we got closer. Was that perfume..? I can’t stand the stench of it. He must be absolutely wafting in it, I could practically see the cloud glittering around him. He was dressed in pinks and purples--a purple jacket with the word _LOVE_ embroidered in golden cursive was over a pink shirt with a red heart on it. He wore purple skinny jeans and pink sneakers with hearts on either side of both. He wore glasses with tinted pink lenses over his pink eyes. His hair was brown and clearly stylized, the back of it curling upward on either end and some strands at the top curling to form a heart while his bangs were swept to the side. He had a small but shining smile that ended up directed right at us.

Suffice to say, I’m not impressed. Melody, on the other hand, seemed to have gone from rosy-cheeked to rosy-faced.

“Do my eyes deceive me, or have two beautiful angels dropped down to grace me with their presence~?” the boy says, placing a hand on his chest.

“A-Angels...he called us angels, Vanessa.” Melody was tugging on my hand, grinning like an idiot. Dear god...

“Vanessa,” the boy purrs. He leans forward, resting his head on his hand. “I’ve always loved that name~”

“I’m indifferent,” I respond plainly. At least, I am now that he likes it.

The boy seemed to catch the hint because his attention turned to Melody instead. “And who is this adorable little plum with you?”

“H-Hehe...plum...” Melody pulls her scarf up to try and hide how red in the face she was.

With Melody out of commission, I decided to introduce the both of us. Anything to get us out of here sooner.

“I’m sure I need no introduction,” the boy says sweetly. “But for you lovely ladies? I’d gladly do anything~ I’m Xavier Harper, the Ultimate Heartthrob. I prefer lady’s man, though~”

“And we’re leaving,” I respond. “Come on, Melody, _Chàng trai nữ tính_ has a lot of ladies to man.”

“He called me plum...” Melody giggles into her scarf. I roll my eyes and start pushing her along until I couldn’t smell that awful perfume anymore.

We walk over to two people standing together. One was that short boy with the crown that spoke earlier. The crown in question was made of gold, with several jewels adorning it as it sat on his unkempt black hair. He wore a pink shirt that was buttoned incorrectly and hot pink shorts. Knee-high socks covered the rest of his legs, although one of them was pulled down awkwardly. He also had on brown loafers and a red cape with white fluff at the bottom. Despite how basic his attire looked, the fabric was clearly far more expensive than it should be. He had fearful green eyes and a constantly quivering lip.

He was currently standing with another person, dressed as a knight. Armor adorned their legs from the knee down, as well as their upper arm and shoulders. Leather covered the rest of their arms and legs. They wore a red tunic with a crest on it, of what I believe was meant to be land, sea, and sky with a green border. They wore a belt as well, with a dagger tucked into its sheath at the front. Their face was currently obscured by a helmet with a red plume coming from the top of it.

“Look out!” the short boy shrieks, pointing a finger at us as we approached. He dives behind the knight. “They’re coming to attack! Kill them, quickly!”

“They’re not coming to attack,” the knight says, taking off their helmet. Long black hair flows out around them, eyes just as green as their boy’s. A scar went over their left eye, which helped to match the serious expression they wore.

“I apologize for his behavior,” the knight says. “He’s been on edge since we arrived. I’m Alejandria Carlito-Rodriguez and this is my brother, Javier Carlito-Rodriguez. Ultimate Knight and Ultimate Prince, respectively.”

“Oh, why don’t you just go and tell them _everything_ then?!” Javier hisses up to his sister. “I had the entire thing planned out! You could keep pretending to be--”

“Now who’s telling them everything?” Alejandria retorts. Javier shuts up, pouting, as she looks back at us. Melody and I introduce ourselves.

“It’s so amazing to meet real royalty!” Melody says. “Where are you two from, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“I’m the future ruler of the glorious kingdom of Ciudad de Sueños! It’s located in, eh...I believe what you’d refer to as Central America. But we have plans to reach out further beyond!” Javier seemed a lot less scared now that he could begin bragging.

“No, we don’t,” Alejandria says.

“That’s not what mother and father said!”

Alejandria sighs and puts a hand to her temple. “God...”

“Trouble in paradise?” I ask. “Is _Nỗi đau hoàng gia_ always like this?”

“What did you just call me?!” Javier demands. “She’s speaking in secret code, Alejandria! Kill her now, she’s a spy sent here to kill me!”

“...I’m afraid he is,” Alejandria says to me. “Would you excuse us?”

“Please, go right ahead, _Bộ áo giáp sáng ngời_.”

Alejandria grabs Javier by the cape and carries him away to speak to more privately.

“I thought a prince would be more...refined,” Melody comments. “And handsome.”

“Ugh, I can’t deal with anymore handsome right now...” I murmur. I could still smell that awful perfume. “Let’s just talk to someone else.”

We approach the boy from before, the one dressed in a suit. It was mostly black, from the jacket to the pants to the dress shoes. Even his combed hair was black. It was contrasted by the red he wore--his undershirt, a handkerchief in his breast pocket, and his tie that also had a blue stripe on it. His eyes were also a striking red, much like my own. He also seemed to hold an intense gaze. His face was pale, with some scruff on his chin starting to grow in. His hands were folded neatly behind his back, giving him an air of professionalism.

“Can I help the two of you?” the boy asks us as we approached him.

“We’re introducing ourselves like we were suggested to do,” I say. “That’s not going to be an issue, is it?”

“Of course not. I’m Adam Monroe, Ultimate Butler. I’m at your beck and call...assuming I’ve deemed you worthy.”

“Worthy..?” I parrot. “So it’s more than just payment you look for?”

“I don’t serve just anyone,” Adam explains. “What I’m looking for is not money, either. I offer my services to those who I have decided are worthy people that deserve it. I lay my life down for the person I choose to serve, willing to do anything humanly possible for them. But that is up to me and me alone.”

Well, I suppose it makes sense for Ultimates to be picky about the services they offer. Still, the ego this guy has...

Melody and I decided to introduce ourselves to Adam. 

“Well, I’d say it’s a pleasure to meet you, Mistress Huang and Mistress Brooks, but I’m sure this isn’t exactly the situation we’d be finding such positive companionship.”

“I don’t think everyone here is so bad...” Melody admits softly.

“We don’t even know why half the people here are in for,” I point out. “I wouldn’t make a judgment call like that so soon. We barely know them.”

Melody pouts, crossing her arms. “You two are such negative Nancys, you know that..?”

I don’t know what she’s expecting to happen around here. Like it or not, everyone here is a criminal, and the likelihood all of us are good people with good intentions isn’t all that high. If Melody gets her hopes up like this, it’ll just crush her later.

The two of us move away from Adam, over to a smaller girl standing in the corner. She was talking to the wall in a hushed tone. Okay...

“Maybe we should leave this one for later,” I warn Melody.

“She gives me the heebie-jeebies...” Melody says softly, pulling up her scarf over her face.

“Oh, dearest companions, your presence has been made well known to me,” the girl says, turning to face us. She was short, maybe about Melody’s height, with long blue hair that flowed down her back. Her face had a few freckles dotting it, along with her deep purple eyes and her wide grin. She also wore a paper triangle headband, along with a white kimono with blue accents along the edges that were adorned with stars. At least...I believe it was meant to be a kimono, but I’d almost mistake it for a standard bathrobe, too. It was clearly too big for her since it went all the way to the floor, and the edge was slumping off her shoulder. There was also this...strange aura around her...

“V-Vanessa, she’s scaring me...” Melody whimpers.

“I apologize if my presence may be off-putting. I can never seem to find peace from the spirits, and sometimes they create quite a miasma around me,” the girl goes on. “Still, I hope we can get along. I am Madame Ruby, the Ultimate Spirit Medium.”

So she’s a scam artist then. Ghosts and the paranormal are nothing but nonsense and anyone trying to pedal such mysticism tends to have ulterior motives up their sleeves...that, or they’re simply insane. Can’t tell which one ‘Madame Ruby’ is meant to be.

I can’t exactly deny this almost otherworldly presence she seemed to carry with her, though...

I introduce myself and then--seeing how she didn’t seem to be budging--Melody as well.

“...strange,” Madame Ruby says softly. “You two seem like you are lovely girls, and yet...I can’t help but notice the way death seems to surround you both...”

“A-Am I surrounded by ghosts?!” Melody wails. “Make them go away! Please, please make them go away!”

“Oh, I do have some sage I can sell to you. Or perhaps you would like some cleansing tags? I also have some charms that aid in warding off evil spirits.”

“Yes, anything, anythiiiing!”

It’s like watching a wolf sink its fangs into its prey. I don’t think I can sit here and let this go on. “We’ll consider it for now, _Vàng của lừa_.” At least, until I can convince Melody this is nonsense. I led the librarian away before she could give over her life savings for junk.

While I was trying to get Melody to calm down, we were approached by someone else who looked mad.

It was another of the girls, dressed in a rather flashy outfit. She had bright red hair that was tied into pigtails with light blue star clips. She had light blue eyes that were narrowed at the two of us right now. Her jacket was dark blue and hugged her body, going down past her knees in the back. It was closed with a bright blue bow, similar to the ones decorating her blue jeans. She also had on a shirt under the jacket that depicted a few shooting stars. She wore a red belt that wasn’t actually attached to her jeans and a pair of maroon boots that added at least an inch or two of height.

“Did you...need something?” I ask hesitantly.

“I was waiting for you two to come over and meet me since you were going around and talking to everyone! You two wouldn’t even look my way, though!”

“I didn’t notice you,” I admit.

“...really? Most people do notice me since I’m a world-famous musician! You must not get out of the house much!” The girl was getting red in the face. “I am Daniella Hawthorne! Ultimate Band Leader! Lead singer and the face of _Girls After Class!_ ”

“Never heard of it.” Sounds like some American band. I don’t really listen to that kind of music, it’s far too distracting and loud.

“Oh, you’re part of that all-girl’s rock band, right?” Melody chirps from beside me.

“Part of? I _am_ the band! At least, that’s how I see it since I’m the reason we’re so famous. That’s why I need to get out of this place, or they’re gonna make the whole band fall apart!”

“I’m sure there’s absolutely no reason at all a sparkling personality such as yourself would wind up in jail,” I say, sarcasm dripping from my voice. I’m starting to get tired of talking to all of these eccentric personalities. 

“It’s all one big misunderstanding!” Daniella demands. “I didn’t do anything, I just...nevermind, I’m gonna find whoever’s running this place to explain everything to them. I just thought you’d like to meet a famous celebrity!”

I really didn’t want to.

“Well, thank you, it was really nice to meet you!” Melody says. “Maybe you can give us an autograph before you leave?”

“I don’t just hand those out, you know. My signature is priceless! I’ll think about it, though.”

Yeah, I was already sick of this. “Well, you introduced yourself _Sao băng_ , so we’ll be moving on.” I start walking away from Daniella, who seemed shocked by it. Melody quickly trails after me.

“You don’t have to be so cold to everyone, you know...” Melody says to me.

“Then they should be less annoying,” I sigh, putting a hand to my head. “It’s giving me a splitting headache...”

“We can take a break if you need to.”

If they’re just going to start approaching me like Daniella did, I doubt that’ll do us any good. “No, let’s get through it as quickly as possible. I’ll go to my room as soon as we’re let out of here.”

Melody frowns softly. “You don’t want to try to make friends..?”

I didn’t answer her, just moving on to the next student. Why would I want to make friends here? We’re all criminals, caught for crimes and thrown out of sight of society. There’s nothing to befriend in there. No point in trying. Besides, I preferred being alone anyway. These people are loud, stupid, annoying, or all of the above. I was getting sick of it.

If I’m lucky, our stay here won’t be very long.


	2. Prologue: What It Takes to Make a Criminal - Part II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The human interaction is taking a serious toll on Vanessa, but she powers through. In the end, they get access to the prison. But...again, something feels off. There's no staff and the warden is being...strange.

Melody and I continue the introductions, walking over to two boys who seemed to be getting into some kind of argument. Both were muscular, with one looking angry while the other was balling his eyes out.

The angry one was the smaller of the two in both height and muscle definition, although he was still taller than I was. He wore a green button up shirt that was left open with one sleeve rolled up, showing off his chest under it--his stomach was currently wrapped up in bandaging. He had a red whistle around his neck at the moment, too. His intense eyes were a dark grey that sat under the brim of the green cap he wore. He also wore camouflage pants and dark green combat boots.

The other boy was easily described with one word--massive. He was incredibly tall, absolutely over 6 feet, and was almost impossibly muscular. Of course, his body didn’t match the young babyface he had with bright blue eyes and blonde hair that swept to the sides. He wore a blue sports jacket with light blue and dark blue accents on the chest, the same dark blue outlining the arms up to the collar and decorating the bottom of the jacket and sleeves. Under it was a simple white t-shirt that almost seemed too small on his frame. He wore grey jeans with brown squares on the knees that had the color orange surrounding them, and softer orange sneakers.

“Are you even a man?!” the angry boy says. “Balling your eyes out like this is a pathetic example to set!”

“I...I am sorry..!” the bigger boy wails, his voice coming out in a thick Russain accent.

“What’s going on over here?” I ask. Even I wasn’t cruel enough to leave this guy sobbing his eyes out.

“It’s nothing I can’t handle!” the smaller one barks. “He just can’t handle hearing the truth!”

The big guy sniffles, tears still running down his cheeks. “It...It was just one bar of candy...”

“Oh, that’s how it always starts!” the other snaps. “It’s just one candy bar! Then it’s just one soda! Then it’s one slice of cake! Before you know it, you’ve packed on another 100 pounds and spend your days sitting on your ass in front of a TV!”

All of this commotion over a piece of candy..? I can’t say I’m a fan of sweets myself, but this just seems ridiculous.

“I don’t see the problem with just one candy bar,” Melody admits.

The angry guy looks at Melody with a scowl. “...yeah, you _wouldn’t_ , would you?”

“Wh-What’s that supposed to mean?!” Melody asks.

I don’t feel like having another person get involved in this stupid argument. “Just who are you, anyway?” I finally asked.

“Neil Corbin, Ultimate Personal Trainer! And before you ask, I’m only here because of some pansies, everything I did was within the legal contract they signed before I started working with them!”

Someone’s overcompensating a little. Good thing I have no intention of letting him ever work with me for any reason. “If you say so.”

“Is that sass?” Neil grabs his whistle and blows into it. “Drop and give me 20, on the pronto!”

I suppose the military get-up isn’t for show then. I was already well past my limit for human interaction of the day, though, and this? It’s not making things easier. I decide the best course of action is to simply ignore him. “And what about you?” I ask the bigger guy, who seems to have finally started to calm down.

“Oh, um...” He sniffles and wipes his eyes, doing his best to flash me a massive smile. “I am Teddy Young! Or, well, Theodore...but I like to be called Teddy! I am Ultimate Strongman!”

Neil seemed ready to open his mouth again, so I decided to introduce myself to them. Melody does the same.

“It is really nice to meet you both, Miss Vanessa and Miss Melody!” Teddy says cheerily.

“Hmph...” Neil crosses his arms. “If you say so...but we’re not done talking about this issue, Teddy! You decided to hire me, after all!”

Teddy’s head droops. “Oh...”

...Teddy seriously hired this guy already? They just met, and he really didn’t look like he needed any kind of help. Except maybe to grow a backbone.

“You’re not going to make Teddy cry again, are you?” Melody asks with a stern expression.

“I’ll make him do whatever I damn well _please_ ,” Neil responds. “It’s none of your business!”

“Right...well, _Trung sĩ Khởi dộng Liếm,_ try to take care of _Con gấu_ , will you?” I say to Neil. “...as in, if he starts crying again, I’m taking it up with you.”

Neil just huffs defiantly in my direction but otherwise ignores me. Taking the hint, I walk off with Melody in tow.

We walk over to a bench that was on the other side of the room that had a girl sitting in it, quietly writing in a notepad. She was fairly tall, but thin as a rake, to an extent that I’d be worried about her health. It didn’t help how pale she was, either, nor her sunken in eyes that carried a look of deep sorrow in their pale blue color. She had raven black hair that draped down her back and shoulders, some of it brushed behind her ear. She wore what I’d almost assume was a boy’s school shirt, stark black with a high collar that was closed with a yellow button. I could see the cuffs of a white shirt poking out from the sleeves. She also wore a light blue skirt that was puffy and shorter in the front than the back, only coming up to her knees for the front but down to her ankles on the back. She also wore black shoes and white knee-high socks. I’d almost mistake her for one of the spirits Madame Ruby likely claimed to call upon.

She looks at the two of us as we approach, her thin lips stretching into a grimace. “Can I help you..?” Her words carried on her breath, coming out as merely a sigh in our direction.

“Just getting to know everyone,” I say.

“How easily we give away something so personal. A name, with such power imbued in its mere utterance, surely should carry the weight it has. And yet, it doesn’t, leaving itself invisible to the eyes as our breath carries it into the air and out of our grasp.” The girl pauses for a moment. “...Velma Princeton. I’m dubbed the Ultimate Poet.”

“Oh, I thought I recognized you!” Melody says. “I’m a huge fan of yours, I’ve been wanting to reach out! I just, you know, found it hard to, haha...”

“Mm...” Velma seemed unimpressed. I decided to introduce the two of us before Melody could begin to catch on.

“Fame is such a fickle thing. The limelight over all of us exists within a flickering bulb, threatening to go out the moment we stop staring into it.” Velma’s gaze shifts to me. “...I’d expect you to have recognized me, given your talent. I do have published work.”

“I might have heard your name floating around the literature club I’m in, but I can’t say I’ve read any of your work,” I admit. The name did ring some bells, but thinking about it too hard made my head start to buzz. What the hell was that..?

“I can let you read some of it, then, if you find yourself interested.”

“I could do that. I don’t read for leisure as often as I’d like, with how busy I am.”

“Can I come with you two?” Melody asks hopefully. 

“...maybe,” Velma relents. Not that she was enthusiastic, to begin with, but somehow, she sounded even less interested than before. Melody looked happy, at least. I can’t say their personalities mesh well, though. That might be what Velma was thinking, too. I better give her space again.

“I’ll come to talk to you about it later, then, _Ngày mưa._ Once we get into the main building, at least.”

“I’ll be waiting then.”

I usher Melody away before she could keep the conversation going. I had no idea how to break it to her how Velma clearly felt, and honestly, I didn’t want to deal with it anyway.

We walk over to a boy that was sitting in front of the tree located in the room. His eyes were closed and he seemed to be meditating at the moment. He was large, both tall and fat, but most of his body was obscured by clothing. I could only make out his eyes and fingers. He wore a dark blue jumpsuit of some kind, which covered the majority of his body. It was a bit baggy on him, but lighter blue cloth wrapped around his wrists and ankles made sure it wouldn’t be in the way at all. He also wore a tunic of the same color with a dark blue belt tied around his waist. Snowflakes peppered the lower right of the tunic as well as one on each of the fingerless gloves he wore. He also had a scarf around his neck that had a tattered edge and a very light blue mask and headband that helped obscure most of his face. He wore black sandals with greyish-blue socks to complete the look.

The boy opened his pale blues eyes as we approached, gazing at us with utter tranquility. “...hello there...I hope I’m not in the way...” His voice was calm and soft, coming out incredibly smoothly.

“We’re just introducing ourselves to everyone, it’s okay!” Melody assures. She introduces herself, and I do the same.

“...ah, I see...” He closes his eyes again and I almost thought he was just going back to his meditation. “...Shimo is what I go by...I’m the Ultimate Ninja...”

“That’s Japanese for frost, isn’t it?” I ask. Now that I think about it, the air around Shimo seems a bit cooler than the rest of the garden.

“...correct...my clan gave it to me once I had earned my place as their cook...”

...didn’t he just say he was a ninja, though?

“That’s so amazing!” Melody gushes. “Can you tell me more about your clan? I’d love to hear about it. I've done a lot of reading of traditions from around the world. Ninjutsu developed in the Edo period, right? Does your clan still practice the traditional art form, or have you changed it in modern times?”

“...well...”

“Are you assassins of some kind, or have you taken up a yakuza lifestyle? Oh, wait, I have to know if you live a more traditional lifestyle!”

“...that is...”

“Oh, oh, what about--”

“How about you write down all your questions for later, _Chóng mặt_? Then _Lửa và băng_ can answer them then.”

“Ah! You’re right! Maybe Velma can lend me a paper and pen..!”

Shimo seems to have already gone back to his meditation. Not wanting to disturb him further, I lead Melody away. I wish she’d stop talking off my ear, too, though...

We approach another of the students, a girl wearing an...outfit. It was almost as annoying to look at as Daniella’s. Hopefully, she’s not as annoying to talk to, too.

The girl had dull orange hair that came down in spikes, with her bangs dyed a light yellow, also coming down in spikes. She wore a large jacket that was yellow and green, the colors separated by a design on either side of it. Her pants were dark green with red stripes along the outer ends. She also wore dark red boots and a red belt. She had on a leather strap under her jacket and over the yellow shirt she wore, with what looked like a plastic box attached to it. I’m sure there were more under there. She had a cocky aura about her in her shining yellow eyes.

I already wanted to leave.

“Yo, what’s up?” the girl says with a smirk. “Ready to introduce yourself to me?”

No. “I suppose we are.” Melody and I introduce ourselves.

“Yeah, yeah, alright.” The girl waves a hand dismissively, her grin only growing. She strikes a ridiculous pose, her hand in front of her face so that she peeked at us from between splayed fingers. “I am the spectacular Jaida Yuki, only the greatest card player there is! But the TYCP recognized me for my expansive and amazing collection, giving me the title of Ultimate Trading Card Collector!”

...so, in essence, she has no real-world skills. Why am I not surprised?

“Trading cards..? What are those?” Melody asks.

“You’ve never heard of them?” Jaida asks. “They’re only the greatest thing in the world, each one part of different high-stakes games! There are the big ones, like Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Magic: the Gathering, Vanguard--all games I’m highly skilled at, by the way. But there are all kinds of smaller ones that I’m into as well! I’ve even gotten into collecting baseball cards!”

“ _Hoàn toàn cu thua_...” I murmur under my breath.

“Eh, what was that?” Jaida asks. Her grin widens and she puts one hand under her chin. “Oooooh, I know, you’re impressed by my amazing skills, eh? I could teach you a thing or two about these games, y’know.”

“Oh, yes, please!” Melody chirps. “It sounds so exciting!”

Hard pass. “Maybe later,” I say. “By the way...you have an interesting name, Jaida. It sounds familiar...”

“Oh, does it? Well, I guess it’s just because I’m so amazing, you’ve had to have heard about me already! I bet I’m known all over the world!”

No, I think I’ve heard a very similar name talked about with some of the kids in the anime club. Not quite Jaida but...oh well, I’m not going to waste the brain space thinking about it. It is literally less than worth my time.

There was only one more person in the room that we needed to talk to, so we break off from Jaida to find him. I know I’ve seen him bouncing around here or there while we’ve wandered. I don’t see him now, th--

“Heya!” He popped out in front of us, waving to the two of us.

I could only assume it was a boy under that outfit he was wearing. He had on a lot of rubber, from the gas mask and gloves and boots that were all black with yellow trimmings to the rubber suit he wore on the rest of his body that had a zipper down the middle and was stylized with fire ranging from blue to red to orange from the bottom up, ending at the rest of the suit being grey. He also wore a very out-of-place maroon fedora with a plaid pattern on it, a matchbook tucked into the darker red binding around the base and brim of the hat.

“...he...llo?” Melody says, clearly still trying to process the strange person before us.

“...ah, it’s the hat, right? I thought it might be a bit much, but I also thought it was incredibly stylish! Don’t you think? Girls are usually better with fashion stuff.”

Thank god this is the last joker I’ll have to deal with. “The hat’s...” I trail off. “...anyhow, how about introductions?”

“You hate the hat...” the boy pouts.

Melody and I introduce ourselves without answering him.

“Hmph...well!” He perks right back up. “I’m Axel Pyre, the Ultimate Pyrotechnic! I do shows and stuff involving fire stunts, basically. No one knows how to handle a dancing flame better than me!”

“That sounds really dangerous! How do you handle something so scary?” Melody asks.

“There’s nothing scary about it! Fire is like a beautiful mistress, and it must be shown respect and adoration to be able to reveal its true flare! Plus, I always have my fireproof suit on.” He gestures to himself. “...well, minus the hat. But the hat seriously ties it all together!”

I don’t want to listen to him talk about his damn hat for another second. I’m sick of talking to all of these people. They’re loud, obnoxious, or downright _stupid_. I can’t believe I’m going to be stuck in this hellhole with them for the foreseeable future...

“Hey, when’s that door finally gonna open?!” Daniella demands as if reading my mind. “I wanna talk to the guys in charge still!”

“You really still think you don’t have a reason to be here, do you?” Adam asks, adjusting his tie.

“Uh, no?! I’m telling you all, it’s one massive misunderstanding!”

“Huhuhuhu,” Madame Ruby laughs to herself. “I wonder...that’s not what I’ve heard from the other side...”

“Man, you give me the creeps...” Jaida says. “Would it kill you to talk about normal stuff?”

“Ah...the sweet scent of hypocrisy wafts through the air...” Velma murmurs from her bench. “Such a pungent odor surely would choke us all...”

“Ladies, please, there’s no need to get into such disarray~” Xavier says, his eyes sparkling. “I’d hate to see you all so sad.”

His voice alone seemed to be enough to end the bickering starting to form from the girls. Some of the guys seemed to be looking in his direction now, too. I made a point to direct my attention anywhere else. Even thinking about the smell of his damn perfume was too much for me.

“...has anyone tried knocking on the door?” Alejandria finally asks.

“Why would we do that?” Axel asks in turn. “I mean, we’re the guests of honor after all!”

“I’ll take it as a no, then, that no one has tried that.” I sigh. “Alright, I’ll do it, then. We don’t have anything else to go off of.” And I’m tired of standing around all of you. I walk over to the door and knock on it as loudly as I could.

“I can’t believe you’d suggest something so utterly ridiculous!” Javier scolds.

“Must you undermine all of my decisions, _hermanito_..?” Alejandria asks bitterly.

“Make better decisions then, _hermana idiota!_ ”

Alejandria’s face twists into a scowl. “ _Escucha, pequeña mie_ \--”

Before another argument could break out, the doors that I had knocked on finally open, drawing everyone’s attention. A guy stood in the doorway, his face stony and harsh as he glared at all of us. He couldn’t be much older than the rest of us, but he still had that air of authority and age to him. He was wearing simple black clothing, dress pants and a dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up, with a white undershirt. He had a pair of sunglasses that did nothing to obscure his harsh gaze on us, further emphasized by the natural scowl he wore with a toothpick sticking out from his lips. He also had on a grey cap and a pair of heavy boots that thud with each step. He was lean with muscle as well.

“Alright, everyone, line up!” he barks at us. “I’m here to take attendance and make sure everyone is accounted for!”

“And just who the hell are you?” I ask. He was way too close to me to be so loud. Why does everyone in this place have to be noisy..?

His intense gaze centers on me, but I remain as calm as before. “...hmph. You’re Huang, right? The student with the little drug ring.”

“Woah, I didn’t realize it was that serious,” Axel pipes up from behind me.

“...hey, you still got some?” Daniella asks softly, nudging me with her elbow. It took a lot of willpower to ignore her.

“Yes, that’s me,” I say to the guy before me. “So, I’ll ask again: who the hell are you?”

A smirk crosses his lips. “Ya got spunk. I go by Rascal, and that’s all that you need to know. I’m also the Ultimate Warden, and as such, I’m in charge of you lot for the remainder of your sentence here at Halfway Home Detention Center!”

“That’s enough chatter!” Neil finally says. “You heard the man before, didn’t you? In formation, on the double!” He moved to stand behind me. I could feel his eyes boring into the back of my head as if waiting for me to do something he could yell at me for...

“Hey, wait, I need to talk to you!” Daniella pipes up, marching to the front as the group begrudgingly tried lining up.

“What about?” Rascal sighs, looking up from a digital handbook to face the rock star.

“I’m here by complete mistake, you know! So it’d be great if you could send a boat back to pick me up while you deal with the rest of these guys, yeah?”

Rascal snorts and shakes his head. “In line, Hawthorne. And don’t make me repeat myself.”

Looking offended, Daniella huffs and spins on her heels to march to the back of the line, grumbling under her breath.

Being the first in line, Rascal marked off my name without saying anything. “Huang, here’s your digital handbook issued by the program for you to use during your sentence. Your room is labeled. The handbook works like an electronic key, so you can use it to get in. It only opens to your fingerprint as well, so no one else can use it.”

I nod silently and take the handbook, moving past Rascal to enter the area behind him. The garden leads into the main lobby that branches off in several different directions, presumably to other areas in the detention center. Stairs lead up above us, to a pseudo-second floor that was just a walkway with banisters to let people enter the bedrooms, where sixteen bedrooms lined the walls--four on each wall. I take the stairs up, finding that my room was on the corner of the right-most wall. I was neighbors with Javier and Teddy, whose bedroom was starting along the next wall.

Great...

I sigh and active my handbook. It worked just like a hotel room would, letting me bring the handbook up to a sensor on the door. A green light blinks and the door unlocks with a click, letting me enter my room.

My bedroom already had my things sent ahead of me, from what I was aware of. There is a closet and a bathroom in the room, both of which were stocked with my clothes and hygiene products respectively, even including a personal washer and dryer for clothing. I had a large bed that seemed comfortable, as well as a desk with some drawers that had some items inside of mine such as notebooks, pens and pencils, calculators, and most school supplies. I had a bookshelf in my room as well, lined with various textbooks, studying material and exams, and required reading material. There was a small window in the room, not nearly big enough to escape from, but I could open it to let in more light and the ocean breeze from outside. The room itself had a warm and comforting atmosphere, with a nice rug laid out on a wooden floor and a ceiling fan above that I could use to also light up the room.

“Nicer accommodations than I expected,” I admit to no one. I go through everything in the room. I even had my laptop with me, sitting on the desk. Of course, as soon as I checked it, I could see there was no internet access. None of us had our phones, either. Those got confiscated from us before boarding the boats. At least, mine was.

I needed time to recharge after my interactions with the others, so I grab a textbook off the shelves and sit down at my desk to begin reading it. I fish out some post-it notes and a pencil from my desk for note-taking and begin my usual studying routine.

I managed to get through two chapters, filling out the margins with the sticky notes as I scrawled down the information I deemed most important when a voice crackled out through speakers around the facility. Some kind of announcement..? I wonder what it’ll be about.

“Attention, all students,” Rascal’s voice came out over the speakers. “For some reason, no staff has yet to arrive at the facility, which was the reason for my tardiness. As such, I’ve locked most areas in the detention center due to this lack of staffing. I will leave the space with your eating space unlocked, as it’s a necessity. I’ll be trying to find out where the other staff is. For now, you can talk amongst yourselves as we wait. And I will be keeping an eye on things, so behave.”

No staff..? Strange, I would have expected the building to be fully staffed. I suppose that explains the lack of guards or adults around here.

I let out a sigh and close my textbook. It wouldn’t hurt to get something to eat. Besides, I should see what is even open at the moment. I was told there would be a library here, so I could try finding something to read more casually.

...I just realized how much free time I suddenly had on my hands. I’ve always been so busy, juggling studying and school and extracurriculars and...well, my side hustle. I’ve never had free time to worry about. There should be classes here since we’re all still high school students, but they’re much more limited since we’re supposed to be doing other things such as speaking with counselors and the like. Rehabilitation, I believe it was called. It’s ridiculous but still better than prison.

The point is, I had real free time for once in my life. Maybe...I shouldn’t be looking at such a gift horse in its mouth. Some time to relax could be useful, if not alien to me.

“...Mother would be ashamed to hear that,” I sigh to myself. I stand up and make my way out of my room. No matter what I intend to do, getting my bearings of the building and the facilities it has to offer is a valuable use of my time. I just...hope I won’t have to put up with the others that much.

I step out onto the walkway. I could see Javier was fuming to Alejandria about something nearby. Something about his room...bah, I don’t care enough to even eavesdrop. I make my way down the stairs.

From the bottom floor, there were doors on each wall. One obviously led to the indoor garden, which I suppose also served as a lobby. The other three, I wasn’t sure. Two of them were currently closed anyway, but the one on the left wall of the room wasn’t, so I made my way to it.

The linoleum floors continued into the hallway I just entered, where several doors lined the walls. They were all labeled with a sign above them. There was a library, an auditorium, and a cafeteria. I suppose, then, this hall was left open to us so we’d have access to food. At least there was a library...

I went to the library first, which was at the end of the hall, but the room happened to also have the most interest to me. The library itself wasn’t the most spacious, but there were bookshelves covering every wall packed to the brim with books. A single table sat in the room that could likely seat half of us, then there was a couch with a chair on either side separated by end tables with small lamps on them. There wasn’t a place to check out books, but then again, there’s nowhere to take them outside of the detention center anyway. Although, Melody might start hoarding them in her room if we’re not careful.

Speaking of the devil, she was currently fluttering around the room with awe, excitedly going over the books and occasionally moving where some of them sat on the shelves. Velma was also in the room at the moment, quietly reading a book on the couch. Madame Ruby sat next to her, talking about something or other. Honestly, I didn’t want to be a part of that conversation. I was just going to leave when Melody stopped me.

“Vanessa, isn’t this library just so quaint? I mean, it’s not nearly as big as the one I work in back home--or the one at my school, actually--but I always thought small ones like this were the absolute cutest things! And they have all kinds of wonderful selections to read!”

“It seems comfortable enough,” I agree. “I mostly used libraries for studying, so as long as it stays quiet, I’m sure I’ll use it.”

Melody’s face flushes and she pulls the scarf up over her mouth. “You’re saying that because of me, aren’t you..?”

“Just a little.” I look over at the other two girls in the room. Madame Ruby kept looking our way, then speaking to Velma. I really didn’t want to talk to the medium, but if they’re just going to gossip about us anyway...

I walk over to the two of them. “Is there something you wanted to say?” I cross my arms, glaring down at Madame Ruby.

“You’re not particularly spiritual, is that correct?” the medium asks me in return. “I could sense your disbelief during our meeting before, Huang-san.”

I sigh softly. “No, I can’t say I believe in the supernatural. I’m not superstitious like that. It’s just nonsense; fairy tales and legends. Nothing more.”

“You shouldn’t brush off the supernatural so carelessly...” Velma murmurs from her seat, not looking up from her book. “Being unaware of how they work does not mean they do not work. They are forces not to be trifled upon.”

“Yeah, didn’t Madame Ruby say we were being haunted by ghosts before?!” Melody asks, pale in the face.

I should have just stayed in my room. “You haven’t bought anything off of her, have you, _Chóng mặt_?”

“I don’t have any money on me,” Melody admits softly. “So I can’t buy any of her supplies...”

“I can always put it on your tab, Melody-san,” Madame Ruby assures. “Once our sentence has ended, you can then begin paying me at your earliest convenience. I only wish to help you overcome the suffocating presence around you.”

“Ah, that’s so kind of you! Then please, help me, I don’t want to keep being haunted!”

Madame Ruby’s grin widens. “Of course, please, come to my room and we can discuss things further.” She stands up moving out of the room. Her steps were silent, and thanks to her robe, it almost looked like she was floating out of the room. Melody quickly follows behind her.

“...even if you believe in the supernatural, you have to agree with me that ‘Madame Ruby’ is a sham, right?” I look at Velma, who was still seated on the couch.

“She seems to know what she’s doing. She wouldn’t be the Ultimate Spirit Medium otherwise, after all,” the poet mumbles.

Whatever, I’m not Melody’s babysitter anyway. If she wants to fall for some simple tricks like this, it’s not my problem. She can flush her money into whatever scams she wants.

“I’m going to go see some of the other facilities. I assume you want to stay here?”

“Mm.” Velma didn’t even look up from her book now to address me. I take the hint and make my way out of the room, letting her read in peace.

I knew between the cafeteria and the auditorium, I’d be more likely to be alone in the auditorium. But I knew I’d also spend more time in the cafeteria than the auditorium, so I’d be better to get acquainted with it first. I sigh and relent, making my way to the cafeteria, which was the first door on the right side of the hall--same side as the library had been.

I step inside, finding a standard cafeteria set up. Linoleum floors, several tables in the room for many students to sit at, stacks of steel trays to put food into--if there was any food, anyhow. None seemed to be left out for us to pick from, meaning we’d have to make it ourselves until the staff came by. Well, I’d assume so, but all the people gathered outside the door told me that might not be the case. I could see a decent kitchen through the serving window that was currently blocked with a shutter, equipment of all kinds in the room; ovens, two massive fridges, a pantry, anything anyone would ever need.

“You’re going to break it!” Super Cat’s booming voice came from the group, all but forcing me to draw my attention to it.

“But it is not opening!” Teddy whines in turn. “How are we to eat? I have had nothing all day...”

“You had plenty of candy,” Neil growls.

“It just one bar...” Teddy’s head droops, his lip sticking out in a pout.

“Have any of you tried asking Rascal?” I interject. “I’m sure he has some keys on him, or can at least throw together enough sandwiches for you three.”

“We don’t know where he is!” Super Cat declares. “We’d ask him if we did. It’s strange, I thought he would have unlocked the kitchen, but he sounds incredibly busy, too!”

“He not come by to tell us to stop, either,” Teddy points out.

While both of those things are true, I imagine that Rascal is going to chew them out when we _do_ see him next for this.

“It’s strange there’s no staff to be found here,” Adam says from behind us. I look over my shoulder, seeing that he’s situated himself at one of the tables with Daniella and Carrie.

“It’s such an issue for my schedule,” Carrie sighs. “I was supposed to have eaten some eggs on toast ten minutes ago, but now I have to move it around.”

“This is totally lame,” Daniella sighs, twirling her hair. “First, that jackass won’t let me leave and now he won’t even let me eat. I thought the TYCP was paying for this dump!”

“It’s not like the TYCP to let something this unprofessional happen,” Adam points out. “So the likely answer is there’s a very particular reason no one has shown up yet.”

“What reason would that be?” Neil asks. “Punctuality is important! Cluttering your life with a cluttered schedule is how you spiral down into a meaningless existence! Carrie there understands, don’t you?”

“Don’t talk to me,” Carrie responds.

“Is talking to Neil not in your schedule?” Daniella says with a smirk.

“No, I just don’t want him talking to me.”

Daniella snickers to herself while Neil’s face turned red, a scowl forming on his face.

“Nnngh...” Teddy was pulling on the door with all his might, and while it seemed like the door itself was straining, it wasn’t giving. He finally lets go of it with a groan. “They really reinforced these things, huh..?”

“It’s probably to keep people like you out,” I say.

“You did not have to say it like that, Miss Vanessa...” Teddy whimpers.

I shake my head. “Well, I’m going to go somewhere else. I’m still taking in our surroundings. I’ll let Rascal know about your problem if I see him.”

“Thank you for the assistance!” Super Cat bellows heartily. “We’ll be here, then!”

He really isn’t going to be quieter even if I tell him to, so I wordlessly leave the room. The last place available for now was the auditorium, found in the center of the left hallway. I make my way in.

The auditorium was a spacious room filled with seats leading up to a stage. There wasn’t exactly a backstage in here, so it was fairly clear to me it was made for the express purpose of giving announcements. There was a large screen at the back of the room, above the stage and podium. There was a small room near the entrance that seemed to be the place a stagehand would be in to work with the technical stuff. I’m sure the only reason Carrie isn’t back there taking it all in is that it’s not in her schedule...or maybe it’s locked. I can’t say I care enough to find out either way.

Shimo and Axel were in the room at the moment, talking to one another near the stage. Well, I assume they were talking. It was hard to tell since I couldn’t see either of their mouths, but Axel’s movements and gestures were exaggerated and Shimo would occasionally nod to whatever was going on.

Axel took notice of me, however, and started bouncing up and down while waving his arms wildly. Great...

I sigh and walk over to the two of them. “You wanted to talk to me?” I ask.

“It’s good to see you’re still here!” Axel chirps.

“...where else would I go?” I cross my arms and tilt my head.

“Nevermind that! I wanted to ask you what your favorite movie was!”

I look to Shimo, silently asking if this is how Axel has been the entire time.

“...Pyre-san wants to host a movie night...” Shimo says gently. “...he noticed the projector...and thought it would be a good idea...”

“I mostly watch documentaries,” I say, looking back to Axel. “I’ve seen a few movies in my school’s film club, but I doubt it’s anything the others will want to watch.”

“Then I’ll file you under ‘wildcard’!” Axel declares.

...that’s not what I meant by that, but fine. If I have to come, I’ll come. Presumably, a movie night would be _quiet_ , after all.

“Oh, have you two seen Rascal anywhere?” I ask, hoping to change the subject. “A group in the cafeteria is wanting into the kitchen, but he’s got it locked.”

“...there’s been no sign of Rascal-sama...” Shimo mumbles. “...I am sure they can last a little while longer without eating...”

“Oh, oh, maybe he’s got a big surprise waiting for us!” Axel offers. “Liiiike uh...a welcoming party! With cake! I bet him and all the staff are preparing it right now!”

“We’re criminals, not a freshman class,” I say. “Even as TYCP members, I doubt we’re going to get any kind of royalty treatment.”

“Even though we have actual royalty with us?” Axel asks.

“...yes.”

The pyromaniac’s shoulders slump. “Well poo...”

“I’m going back to my room,” I say. “I just came out to look at the facilities we had available to us at the moment.”

“...well...have a good night then, Huang-san...” Shimo says with a wave.

“Yeah, seeya!” Axel cheers.

I part ways with the two of them, going back to my bedroom to resume my studies. It was strange that there was no staff here besides the warden, but I really doubt it’s anything to worry about. Even if I was getting hungry...


	3. Prologue: What It Takes to Make a Criminal - Part III

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the end, things only seem to get worse. Everyone is faced with a new reality of their situation, and that truth hangs heavily in the air. But there's one certainty that everyone is silently agreeing on.
> 
> Someone here is going to kill.

Late afternoon turned to dusk, which turned to dark, and I’d made my way through an entire textbook. There was no new announcement from Rascal, and I was definitely hungry now. If the kitchen still isn’t open, though, my best bet was to just try to get some sleep.

Of course, before I could actually get into bed, the speakers came to life again. This time, though, it was an unfamiliar voice.

“Attention, maggots! It’s time for an impromptu meeting in the auditorium. ON THE DOUBLE!”

...that wasn’t Rascal’s voice. It was a lot deeper, like gravel. Not to mention far more annoying. Was it one of the missing staff members? But that wouldn’t make sense, Rascal was the warden here, why would anyone else be making announcements like that?

I frown and make sure I look presentable again before leaving my room to head to the auditorium amongst the small trickle of other people making their way there.

The sixteen of us gather in the auditorium, deciding to stand.

Xavier lets out a soft yawn. “Mm...this is really interrupting my beauty sleep. What’s going on?”

“Were you really sleeping? You look like you never got in bed,” Jaida points out.

Xavier flashes a sparkling smile her way. “I just wake up looking this good. That’s why it’s beauty sleep~”

Jaida’s face blushes. “Well...yeah, clearly, but I wake up looking even better, y’know! I’ll show you tomorrow!”

Teddy sniffles from where he was standing. “Why Mister Rascal have to call us maggots..?”

“I don’t believe that was Rascal...” Alejandria admits.

“Do you think the rest of the staff has finally shown up?” Daniella asks. “I’ve been staaaaarving!”

“This is really eating into my sleeping schedule...” Carrie grumbles, still on her tablet.

“Odd, the room’s empty,” Adam says. “Weren’t we all summoned here by someone?”

“It’s incredibly rude to leave us waiting...some of us only have so much energy to give to a day,” Velma says, the words simply spilling from her mouth.

“I’m coming, I’m COMING!” that gravely voice from before calls out to us. We all look over to the stage, where the voice seemed to originate. The podium begins to shake in its place and those closest to it take several large steps back. The top of the podium opens, something inside shooting upward in a puff of smoke. It flies up to the ceiling before falling back down. The top of the podium closes again just in time for the thing to land on top of it with a heavy thud. “Everyone, at atteeeenTION!”

“Sir, yes, sir!” Neil calls out, standing up straight with his arms at his sides.

The thing now before us looked like some kind of stuff animal. It was an alligator, the right half green and the left half white. Its belly and some spines along its tail were a lime green color. An army helmet sat on its head, lopsided so that it covered its right eye, only letting us see the jagged red eye it had on the left.

“...uh, what?” Daniella asks.

“Oh, it’s a cute little stuffed animal!” Melody says happily. “He looks so cuddly!”

“...huhuhuhuhu...” Madame Ruby snickered sinisterly into her hand. “My, my...such an oppressive aura radiates from that creature...I wonder...”

“M-Monster! It’s a monster! Kill it, kill it!” Javier screeches.

“Are you all DEAF or STUPID?!” the alligator calls out to us, standing up and putting both hands to his sides. “I _said_ , AT ATTENTION!”

“Is this some kind of joke?” I ask, ignoring the creature. “I don’t take kindly to having my time wasted like this.”

“Sir, Private Neil, reporting for duty! What is your ranking, sir?” Neil calls out, saluting to the gator.

“Is this guy for real..?” Daniella asks.

“At ease, Private Neil!” the gator calls out. “I’m Sergeant Al I. Gator, your new warden for your sentencing!”

“New warden? Boo, I liked the old one better!” Axel calls out. “He thought my hat was super stylish~”

“Is that what he meant by ugly?” Carrie asks, glancing up from her tablet.

“We were just joshing, Rascal’s my bud! I know a bud when I see one!”

“What happened to Rascal to make you be put in charge?” I ask. “He seemed just fine last we saw of him.”

“He was deemed ineligible to run the prison in the proper way to handle you criminals! His termination is pending, but I am here as acting warden!”

“What about the rest of the staff?” Alejandria asks. “Are they going to be here soon?”

“There is no staff!” Sgt. Al declares. “Other than me, it’s you sixteen here to live out the rest of your life sentences!”

The room fell into silence at that announcement. Even I could feel my blood run cold for a moment. What...did he mean by life sentences..?

“Erm...h-haha, I don’t think I heard that right, darling~” Xavier says with a smile. “Did you say...life sentences..?”

“Clean the WAX out of your EARS, PRETTY BOY! LIFE SENTENCE! UNTIL THE DAY YOU DIE! NO ONE LEAVES, EVER! Criminal scum like all of you can’t be trusted to enter society again, so you must all be dealt with!”

“Do you know who I am?!” Daniella demands. “You can’t keep me here, creep! I was told I’d only have to do this shit for a year as long as I played along!”

“Exactly! I am royalty! My parents will surely have your head!” Javier yells.

“Yeah, who the hell are you to tell us we have to stay here?!” Jaida declares. “You can’t make us!”

“Oh, I didn’t know you could all suddenly swim 1987 miles to the nearest land of civilization!” Sgt. Al sneers. “Or do you all have the cellphones that were confiscated? No, I didn’t THINK so! So I damn well can and WILL keep you here to fulfill your life sentence! Well...unless...”

I didn’t get a good feeling from this. “...unless what..?” I ask hesitantly.

“The only way that you can be prepared for society again is if you prove to me you’re willing to fight for RIGHTEOUSNESS and JUSTICE! So, if you want to have your life sentence end...then you must kill one of your fellow inmates!”

“K-Kill someone?!” Melody squeaks. “Why...Wh-Why would you say something like that?!”

“...life and death, as fickle as a falling raindrop. We hang on desperately, another drop into the ocean, destined for the same fate. And yet, still, we struggle, hoping to be the one to avoid the endless expanse before us...” Velma murmurs to herself.

“This...isn’t a funny joke...” Teddy whimpers, poorly holding back tears.

“No joke, I’m completely serious!” Sgt. Al demands. “You can stay here for the rest of your measly lives, or you can kill a criminal to prove you should be let out! No further exceptions!”

“THAT’S ENOUGH, VILLAIN!” Super Cat’s voice booms out, drawing everyone’s attention. “I WON’T ALLOW SUCH EVIL ACTS TO CONTINUE ANY LONGER! JOKE OR NOT, I’LL TAKE YOU DOWN FOR EVERYONE’S SAKE!”

“...I don’t think you should--” Shimo began, but Super Cat moved before he could even finish, charging forward and leaping at the stage. He flicks his wrist, a metal staff expanding out from his hand, which he quickly swings downward to strike Sgt. Al.

The staff connects with the top of the podium with a loud smack, Sgt. Al just barely managed to dodge the attack, dropping onto his feet on the floor instead. “At ease, MAGGOT!” the gator snaps. “Do that again, and I’ll make sure you get punished, too!”

“You...already punished someone..?” Carrie asks, her brows furrowed. “What kind of punishment are we talking about?”

“...Rascal-sama?” Madame Ruby suggests.

“I told you already! His termination is still pending! But...if you’re all really so curious...”

“WE’RE NOT DONE HERE!” Super Cat cries out, going to swing again. Shimo grabs his staff before he could finish his windup, though.

“...I wouldn’t recommend that, Super Cat-san...” Shimo says gently. “...something is wrong here...”

“What did you do to Rascal..?” Melody asks softly. “Y-You didn’t hurt him, did you?!”

“Rascal decided to break the rules!” Sgt. Al says, climbing back on top of the podium. “And rule-breakers get PUNISHED! So, if you behave, you won’t have to go through _THIS!_ ”

A button rises from under Sgt. Al, and he stomps down on it with his foot. The sound of a rope sliding against something fills the room and everyone looks up to see a shape come dropping down from the center of the ceiling.

The rope grows taut high above our heads, the unmistakable body of Rascal now dangling above us. A gag was in his mouth and his arms and legs were bound with more rope, but even with the stop, he was clearly still alive--screaming into his gag and squirming in the air.

“Oh my god!” Daniella screams. “What the fuck are you doing to him?!”

“H-He’s still alive!” Super Cat calls out. “We have to get him down!”

“How are we supposed to reach him?” Adam counters. “He’s not close enough for any of us!”

“Theodore, lift me up,” I say.

“H-Huh?” Teddy looks at me, already bawling his eyes out.

“I said lift me up, dammit! I should be able to reach him if I stand on your hands!”

Teddy whimpers but does as I say. He holds his hands down for me to step onto, and then, as carefully as possible, lifts me up above his head.

“H-He’s starting to slow down!” Xavier calls out to me.

“Please, hurry!” Melody adds.

Teddy’s hands were large, thankfully, so I was able to stand on them well enough to move. The ceiling of the room was easily thirty feet above our heads. Rascal must have only fallen about half of that, meaning...I was just...a little too short..!

Even as I strained as hard as I could, my fingers were nowhere near reaching Rascal, and like Xavier warned me, his wiggling was slowing down to twitching.

“I...I can’t reach him!” I say. “He’s still too high up!”

“I stand on top of a chair!” Teddy says. “Try to stay balance, Miss Vanessa!”

Teddy moved under me, and admittedly, it was a little difficult to stay balanced as he did. But I didn’t fall forward, and his grip on my feet was strong enough to help me stay standing. Teddy got on one of the chairs in the auditorium, balancing precariously on it. I could feel him swaying a bit under my feet. But...

“I got him!” I call out. My fingers were barely able to grab onto the rope around Rascal’s neck.

“He’s dying, hurry up!” Jaida screams.

“I’m going as fast as I can!” I snap back. The knot on the rope was tied up as tightly as possible, and I was struggling to get it to loosen at all. It didn’t help that Teddy was no longer standing steadily under me.

“A-AAAHHHH!” Teddy let out a shrill shriek under me, and I heard the heavy thud of his body hitting the ground at the same time I felt myself drop. I grab desperately for something to stop myself, and the only thing I could grab onto was Rascal.

My hands slid down until I was gripping his ankles tightly, my suddenly free-falling bodyweight pulling his down with a resounding cracking sound echoing out of the room. The sudden jolt of the rope refusing to move any further while my body kept trying to drop made me lose my unsure grip and I dropped to the floor with a thud.

I groan softly, the room spinning around me when I opened my eyes. Some of the others had huddled themselves around me and I felt hands pull me back up to my feet.

Anyone who wasn’t looking at me had their necks craned up to Rascal swaying above us. My eyes drift up, too.

Rascal swayed above us thanks to my disturbance. His sunglasses were crooked on his face now, letting us see the hollow, lifeless gaze in his eyes. His neck was bent at an odd direction, the rope digging in so deeply it was making his neck turn an ugly purple. He was undeniably dead.

“ ** _AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!_ **” Daniella’s voice was clearly well trained since her shrill scream echoed throughout the room so perfectly that it began to echo in my head.

“What...in god’s name..?” Velma mutters softly.

“He...He’s...seriously dead..?” Neil asks, the scowl on his face not enough to hide his clear worry.

“I-I-I AM SOOOOORRY!” Teddy wails, sobbing his eyes out.

“He...He can’t seriously be dead..!” Axel demands. “There must be a mistake! Yes, of course, it’s all one massive mistake!”

“ _Alejandría, tienes que hacer algo antes de que uno de estos cabrones me haga algo!_ ” Javier screams, cowering behind his silent sister.

“And THAT is what happens when you break the rules!” Sgt. Al declares. “You will be PUNISHED!”

“You...You fucking kill him!” Xavier demands.

“...that’s what the punishment is...” Shimo says softly. “...he’ll kill us...”

“This...This is seriously happening..?” Melody whimpers. “I-I feel like I’m going to be sick..!”

“...but there is a way out of here, isn’t that right?” Adam asks. “Sgt. Al said so himself, correct?”

“...he said we had to kill each other to be allowed to leave,” Carrie points out.

“Then those are the stipulations of our new sentencing...” Velma murmurs. “Spend the rest of our lives here...or kill to escape.”

“Now you all get it!” Sgt. Al declares. “Criminal scum like you gets that one thing until you prove you’re better than the rest by _exterminating_ your fellow criminals!”

“That’s...That’s insanity!” Super Cat declares. “No one here is going to stoop to your game!”

“Hm...perhaps you might not,” Madame Ruby agrees, her hands clasped together, “however...I sense a powerful hostility emanating from this room.”

“What...What are you saying..?” Jaida asks.

“...someone here is already plotting murder as we speak.”

As Madame Ruby said those words, the rest of us could begin feeling the animosity growing in the air. I don’t doubt that statement at all myself. I’m sure the thought has crossed plenty of minds. In fact, I know so.

After all, the thought was crossing my own.

“So the goal here is a murder spree?” Axel asks, seemingly unaffected by the heaviness in the air. “Seems pretty wild to me, y’know!”

“No, no, there are rules to it all!” the alligator replies. “I thought you were all finally listening! Check those e-handbooks you were given before, they’ll tell you everything you need to!”

I pull out the handbook from the pocket of my jacket to turn it on. Sure enough, there was a tab here for the rules. I hadn’t really bothered reading them before, but it seems like there’s no avoiding it now, so I open it.

**Rules of the Life Sentence Killing Game**

  1. Criminals are not allowed to leave the prison without express permission. Anyone leaving the building otherwise will be seen as breaking the rules.
  2. Nighttime begins at 10 pm and ends at 7 am. Some facilities may be closed during this time.
  3. Violence against the acting warden, Sergeant Al I. Gator, is strictly prohibited.
  4. The only way to be released is to kill your fellow criminals and get away with it, those doing so henceforth being referred to as “blackened”.
  5. The body discovery announcement will play when 3 or more criminals discover a body. This will not include the blackened, excusing extraneous circumstances.
  6. Once a body has been discovered, the class trial will begin and all living criminals will be given an investigation period.
  7. If the blackened is not found guilty, they may be granted freedom, while all other criminals are punished.
  8. If the blackened is found guilty, they alone will be punished, while all other criminals return to their life sentence.
  9. A criminal may not kill more than two criminals.
  10. Attempting to enter locked rooms will be considered trespassing and will be punished accordingly.
  11. Sergeant Al I. Gator will never directly commit murder.
  12. More rules can be added at Sergeant Al I. Gator’s discretion.



So it’s not as easy as initially presented. It’s not enough to kill someone, but we then have to get away with murder. Even so, the uneasy air in the room didn’t let up. I doubt this would be enough to disway anyone who was already coming to the conclusion that they were going to do what they wanted to do.

“Alright, maggots! It’s nighttime now, so I’m gonna go ahead and leave you to it! Make sure you get to killing or accept your new place in society! That is all!” The podium opens up again, letting the gator drop back inside and out of our sights. That just left the sixteen of us in silence with a fresh corpse swaying above us.

...this really was our new reality, wasn’t it? Someone was going to kill. We’ve been given a new way of living, and then had a way out of it dangled in front of our faces. I have no doubt in my mind that someone here will take that chance. Maybe more than one, if we don’t all die before then. I know everyone else feels the same right now. The air is too heavy and the silence is too thick to think otherwise.

Someone was going to die here. That reality was undeniable. I’ll make sure it won’t be me, no matter the cost.

No matter the lives.

**Prologue: What It Takes to Make a Criminal [END!]**

**Inmates Alive: 16/16**

****

****

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so the killing game begins! Expect a bit of a break for chapter 1 now. I might even start taking breaks between daily and deadly lives, depending on how fast the writing goes. I hope you enjoyed the prologue for now!


	4. Chapter 1: No Crimes Are Created Equal - Daily Life Part I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The news of the killing game hangs heavy in the air, so Adam offers to make food for everyone. Discussion follows of the next steps.

**Chapter 1: No Crimes Are Created Equal [Daily Life - START!]**

After the announcement of the killing game took place, everyone was lost. It was clear there was a wave of confusing and conflicting emotions surrounding us all, but there was one more obvious than others. Distrust.

The way we all looked at each other, now standing alone in that room, was all that needed to be said. None of us trusted the rest of us. Whether that’s because they were plotting a murder or wary of being murdered, it didn’t matter. All that mattered is that no one wanted to be around each other right now. At the same time, everyone was too afraid to make the first move to leave the room, even with the body swaying above us still.

“...alright, this is getting ridiculous,” Adam says, the first among us to speak since Sgt. Al left us on our own. “It’s getting late and no one’s eaten. I suggest we go to the cafeteria and get some food and talk. I’ll even make something for us to eat this time.”

“Talk about what?” Jaida asks. “The hell is there to talk about? I’m pretty sure everything got laid out for us in black and white!”

“I think he’s suggesting we try to come up with a plan of action,” I clarify. “Unless you all want to aimlessly wander around with no plans of any kind.”

“I am pretty hungry...” Super Cat admits.

“How do we know he won’t poison our food, eh?!” Javier demands. “Don’t think it won’t work on me, I know what poison tastes like, and I’m incredibly immune to it!”

“Uh, if one of us died because we ate food he made, wouldn’t we just know he did it?” Axel asks. “Seems like a pretty bad murder plan!”

“And if he tried to poison all of us, it’d be a violation of the rules,” Carrie states. “He’d likely be killed, even if the rest of us die.”

“I don’t want to sit in a room with a bunch of potential murderers!” Daniella demands. “...but dammit, I’m really hungry...”

“We can go to our rooms once we finish,” Xavier advises. “Then we don’t have to do anything like it ever again.”

Whether it’s because they agreed with the idea or because they were hungry, most everyone left the room. I noticed Melody and Teddy stayed behind, though. Out of everyone here, I’m sure they’re handling this the worst. I suppose it won’t hurt to at least get them to get moving, too.

I walk over to Teddy, who was still sobbing to himself, his massive body shaking like a leaf. It really was like watching a child that got scared out of his wits.

“Teddy...” I wasn’t the most comforting person. I wasn’t sure what to say to him to get him to calm down.

“I... _hic_ ...I not _хочу сделать это_...” Teddy says through his sobbing. “The chair... _sob_ ...kept wobbling...and I not _встать прямо_... _sniff_...”

I look up at Rascal’s corpse above us with a frown. There was no way I was going to get that rope off of his neck. If anything, this end was more merciful than continued suffering.

“...I doubt there was anything we could do for him,” I say. “Sgt. Al wouldn’t have let him get away, seeing how serious he was about all of this.”

Teddy sniffles and hiccups. “It...not fair...”

“...can you head to the cafeteria for me, _Con gấu_? I’ll meet you there with the others.”

Teddy nods softly, trying to dry his face as he makes his way out of the room.

I go over to Melody now. “You coming?”

“Um...y-yeah, I am...” she says softly. She folds her hands over each other, her head hanging low. “...I’m really scared, Vanessa...”

Well, it’s not like she has no reason to feel that way. “I’m sure getting something to eat will make you feel better. Come on.” I head out of the room and Melody hesitantly follows me. We were the last to arrive at the cafeteria. Everyone was sat at one of the tables, save for Adam, who had gone to the kitchen to prepare food for us.

The table was quiet for now, panicked and distrusting eyes flickering around as we try our best to keep an eye on each other. The silence between us was heavy and unyielding.

It took about twenty minutes for Adam to bring out the food he was preparing in the kitchen, setting it down around the table, along with providing us plates, glasses, and silverware. He even filled up each cup with different drinks. I got a black coffee.

“How’d you know orange soda was my favorite?” Axel asks. There was a straw in his cup, which he was able to use to drink despite his mask.

“As the Ultimate Butler, it’s my duty to understand the preferences of those I serve,” Adam says. “...while I don’t intend to make this a regular thing, I thought this might ease the tension, and I assumed your preferences based on your behaviors and personality. For instance, Mistress Huang is very focused and hard working. Something to shock her taste buds and keep her attentive seemed the most likely drink for her, so I prepared a black coffee.”

Well, he wasn’t wrong. Black coffee was my go-to drink when I study, and right now, I need that same focus.

“That is amazing, Mister Adam,” Teddy says.

“Anything made by you must dance across the taste buds~,” Xavier says sweetly, sending a wink Adam’s way.

All of the food prepared didn’t seem anything fancy, but as I took the first bite, I was shocked by how delicious it was. I’d grabbed a simple finger sandwich, and yet it seemed so carefully put together. The bread was soft and fluffy, the vegetables inside were crisp and the meat was juicy and full of flavor. It was better than even my father’s cooking.

“This is marvelous!” Super Cat declares. “I’ve never eaten anything like this before!”

“It’s a simple meal, plenty of nutritional intake...” Neil muses. “You have to show me your recipes sometime so I can start using these for my diet plans!”

“I could totally make something ten times as delicious as this!” Jaida brags. “...but honestly, a healthy rival like this is good for the soul!”

“Don’t try to make this a habit,” Adam warns. “As I said, I’m only doing this to ease tensions. I won’t be cooking like this for all of you. I don’t consider any of you worthy of my services.”

“Then we have to savor this meal!” Melody chirps.

It was almost sad how easily the emotions of the group swayed. But even so...there was still an oppressive air around us. They weren’t actually happy. No, they were just acting like it, hoping that ignoring our situation is enough to make it easier on us.

“...denial is the shield used by the weak and the ignorant,” Velma recites from her seat, “for those who deny the existence of bad are those who will be most affected by it. Those few seconds of relief and calm are merely before the storm, an illusion that only hides worse things to come.”

“Uh, what are you trying to get at?” Daniella asks. “Can’t you see I’m trying to eat here?”

“You don’t see what she means?” Madame Ruby asks with a thin smile. “It’s a warning. We gathered here to talk about our current situation, and yet, we are now spending our limited time talking about Monroe-san’s cooking.”

“Look, man, I’m still trying to process all the crazy shit that just went down!” Axel says. “Like, I know I seem all haha funny, but I’m seriously freaking out!”

“...many of us here are undoubtedly unfamiliar with the sight of another losing their life...” Shimo says softly. “...I’m sure it is a lot to take in...”

“I’m more worried about this killing game and its purpose,” Alejandria admits. “I find something about it very strange.”

“This entire situation is strange!” Javier demands. “A demon walks among us and it’s going to kill us! If one of you lousy freaks doesn't do it first, that is!”

“Call me a freak again, and I sure as hell will kill you!” Daniella snaps. “I’ll knock you upside the head until the damn thing flies off!”

“ _AIIIIIEEEE!_ ” Javier let out a shrill shriek. “Alejandria, protect meeeee!”

The knight in question had a tight frown and was pinching the bridge of her nose. After about ten seconds, she opened her eyes again. “As I was saying, I find something odd about the circumstances surrounding this killing game.”

“It is strange,” Carrie agrees, finally looking up from her tablet. “I noticed it, too. The TYCP certainly doesn’t seem involved in it. It almost seems like an outside force has overtaken the detention center.”

“Why would you say that?” Melody asks. “I can’t imagine the TYCP could be overtaken so easily.”

“Rascal’s presence seems to point to the idea,” Alejandria explains. “He was the warden of this place, an Ultimate no less. I have no doubt that was truly his body left to hang above us. Even if the TYCP set this up, I doubt they would want to sacrifice one of their own just to get rid of the rest of us.”

“But...what if they did it anyway?” Xavier asks, twirling some of his hair around. “I mean, what’s one good Ultimate compared to the sixteen bad ones? They could be behind this whole thing, like a massive conspiracy.”

“If we all end up killing each other, it would just be easier to blame the whole thing on a bunch of rowdy prisoners going crazy and killing one another,” Jaida agrees. “Hell, they could even blame Rascal’s death on us.”

“But I don’t think Rascal was supposed to be here,” Carrie counters. “None of the other staff had arrived, after all. Even he admitted he didn’t know the reason behind that. It’s entirely possible he got here before whatever stopped the rest of the staff stopped him. At that point, he’d just be in the way.”

“It does seem unlike the TYCP to make such a massive mistake like that,” Super Cat agrees. “They hired Rascal, after all! And he was a member of the program! There’s no doubt in my mind that they would have been able to avoid this easily!”

“And that leads to my point,” Alejandria says. “An outside force has instead decided to take over this center for their own plans, which seems to involve us dying.”

“You mean...like a terrorist organization?” Daniella asks. “That’s so fucking creepy! Are they holding us for ransom or something?!”

“Admittedly, we seem to be the last group of people that’s worth any ransom. TYCP members or not,” Adam says.

“Then...th-they really just want us to kill each other..?” Teddy asks softly.

“But we’re not going to do something like that!” Super Cat demands.

“Weren’t you already warned?” I retort. “Even if you’ve decided you won’t kill, that hardly goes for the rest of us.”

“Are you admitting to something, then, Huang-san?” Madame Ruby asks me with a sly grin.

“I’m not admitting anything. All I’m saying is, there’s no use in demanding we won’t kill each other. We’re hardly foreign to committing crimes or being selfish.”

“Murder seems like a step up from theft or drug rings...” Axel admits.

“But not impossible, so please don’t dismiss her,” Velma retorts. “I believe everyone here holds the right to be wary of one another.”

“That kind of attitude won’t help us get anywhere!” Melody declares. “We already started to piece things together by working together, right? Who’s to say we can’t do more with that same process?”

“The only thing we’ve done together is come up with one potential theory for who may be running this killing game. But it doesn’t even help us answer anything else. We’ve just created a general consensus that it could be anyone, not just the TYCP.”

“...well, that’s still something...” Melody pouts.

“Look, everyone has the right to not want to trust the rest of the group,” I say, trying to steer the conversation back in my favor. “No one can force us all to get along and pretend we’re suddenly friends. It’s not realistic. We’re all criminals and I’m sure we all have a reason for why we’d want to leave this place already. It’s logical, then, that someone in the group has at least _considered_ murder already.”

“I suppose...” Melody concedes. “But we can at least try to get along, right?”

“...we can try...” Shimo says softly, though even he didn’t sound too confident in the idea.

“Perhaps we should set some ground rules?” Adam suggests. “We already have the rules Sgt. Al has created, but we could create our own to abide by.”

“Is there going to be a punishment for breaking these rules?” Alejandria asks.

“No. Not one we can realistically enforce, anyway.”

“So you’re saying you want to create rules and expect everyone to merely respect them,” Carrie clarifies.

“Yeah, that’ll work.” Jaida rolls her eyes with a sarcastic tone to her voice.

“I think it’s a wise step to have!” Super Cat counters. “I can do my best to ensure we follow these new rules and get along!”

“If we’re making rules, then I want to say that everyone should stay in their rooms during nighttime and get some sleep! Proper sleep is important for a proper life!” Neil barks from his seat.

“There’s no way anyone is going to listen to rules like that...” Daniella says.

“...maybe we can have people stand guard, then...” Shimo suggests. “...two people a night can monitor the hallways...and we can work in shifts so those people can get sleep...that will ensure most are staying in their rooms at night and keeping out of trouble...”

“I can make us a mock up schedule,” Adam says. “I’ll pick pairs at random and change them during every new cycle. Furthermore, I want to assign people to be cooking meals. It’s a good way to get everyone to gather together and keep someone busy.”

“Someone is going to get poisoned that way!” Javier snaps. “And I am not going to subject myself to these ridiculous rules! In fact, I should be making the rules around here! I’m the one with the most authority!”

“You have as much authority as the rest of us, little dude,” Axel corrects. “How about we pair you up with your big sister for stuff? Would that make you feel better?”

Javier’s face turns red. “I’M THE OLDER SIBLING!”

Alejandria sighs and puts her face in her hand. “ _Dios, dame paciencia...”_ She looks up at the rest of us. “I’ll talk to him later and get things sorted out. Please continue, everyone.”

“Ugh, this is so lame...” Daniella pouts. “But like, shouldn’t we have some people in charge to watch over all of this stuff? It sounds like a lot of stuff to keep an eye on.”

“I was planning to do it,” Adam advises.

“Well, I think someone with real leadership skills should handle it all! Like me! My talent is leading, after all!”

“I think bands are different from this...” Melody points out.

“Why don’t we put it to a vote?” Xavier suggests. “Everyone can write down the name of the person they think should be in charge. Majority rules~”

“Tch, you Americans and your need to vote for everything...” Javier chides.

“I’ll give everyone some paper...” Velma mumbles. “Write down a name. Someone can count them after...”

Everyone gets a scrap of paper from Velma’s notebook and we pass around a pencil. When it got to me, I decided to write Alejandria’s name. She seemed to be calm and collected most of the time. If she can wrangle Javier, too, then that’s just a bonus.

Eventually, we had all written down someone’s name. Adam sorted out the scraps of papers until they’d been organized by name. And by a difference of three votes, the winner was...Daniella.

“This is rigged!” Javier snaps. “Only one person voted for me!”

“No offense, but you’re not a very stable person,” Carrie says. “I’d sooner trust Jaida to lead us than you.”

“...did you write your own name, Mister Javier?” Teddy asks.

“Second place...” Super Cat sighs, looking at the three votes he got.

“I can’t believe Daniella got six votes,” I say. Alejandria only got two, with one of them being mine.

“She is an Ultimate,” Melody admits. “Even if we’re not a band, I think she’ll do a good job!”

“I just thought it’d be funny to vote for her!” Axel says from his seat.

“...she’s the only one that asked...” Shimo murmurs.

Daniella had the smuggest grin on her face right now. “Alright, alright, I’ll get a schedule worked up for everyone here! I’ll put it up on the cafeteria doors by tomorrow!”

“Just make sure it random, please,” Teddy says.

“Uh, I’ll do it however I want!” Daniella retorts.

Good God, what are we going to be in for now..?

“Are we going to start guarding tonight?” Madame Ruby asks. “Or shall we simply get some rest?”

“Today’s been really awful, the last thing I wanna do is be awake longer than I gotta,” Jaida admits.

“I still gotta get the whole schedule thing worked out, so it’ll wait!” Daniella says. “Starting tomorrow, you guys'll know who’s making meals and watching the night and when!”

I really didn’t have the energy to fight back against this. I still can’t believe these idiots even voted for her.

“I think we can break for tonight,” Adam says. “It’s nearing ten o’clock now, so we should all retire to our rooms.”

“So we’re going to come here first thing in the morning?” Xavier asks.

“That would be 7 o’clock on the dot!” Neil says. “If any of you are late, I’m expecting twenty squats for punishment!”

“At least this will make my scheduling easier,” Carrie says to herself.

Everyone began to get up from their seats and head to their rooms, Adam staying behind to handle the dishes and leftovers. I make my way to my room as well, not bothering to say anything more to the rest.

I was happy to get back to the privacy of my bedroom. Talking to everyone is so immensely draining. And now we’ve put Daniella in charge of keeping track of these new schedules we had. I can’t imagine that will go well.

I sigh and take off my tie and shuffle off my jacket. I remove my shoes and lay in bed. It wasn’t that late at night, but after everything we just witnessed, I found myself utterly exhausted. I didn’t even have the energy to get myself properly ready for bed.

I stare at the ceiling of my room, listening to the waves outside as exhaustion takes my body and I begin to drift off to sleep. If I’m lucky, I’ll wake up and find this all to be a bad dream...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a bit short, but it was between posting something shorter or longer and I felt like this would work better. There'll just be more daily life segments this time around!


	5. Chapter 1: No Crimes Are Created Equal - Daily Life Part II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first day of the killing game begins. It's also Daniella's first day as a pseudo-leader for the group. It goes about as well as one would expect it to. That's democracy for ya!
> 
> Randomized FTEs: Melody, Velma, and Neil

“UP AND ATTAM, MAGGOTS!” Sgt. Al’s voice echoes through the facility over the speakers. “It’s 7 am, so GET UP and GET TO IT! You have a whole life sentence to live out!”

I grumble and flicker my eyes open. The screens that were all around the school had the image of the alligator yelling at us to get us up, the entire thing accompanied by a blaring air horn.

This wasn’t a nightmare. This was hell.

Considering I went to bed last night without even undressing from my day clothes, I had to take some time to get myself properly ready for the morning, but I think I’ve earned the right to be a little tardy this morning.

A long shower, some fresh clothes, and a bit of maintenance and I was heading out the door and to the cafeteria.

Well, the cafeteria would be my ultimate destination, but I wanted to make a slight detour first. I go to the auditorium, opening the door and peering inside. The room was empty. No Sgt. Al, no corpse, no rope. It was like nothing had happened at all last night. But I know that’s not the truth...

I shut the door wordlessly and return to my original destination.

I stop outside the cafeteria, noticing the two lists posted on the door. One was for meal preparation and the other was for the nighttime guarding. 

**Cooking (Breakfast 7 am, Dinner 6 pm)** **Night Duty (Shift 1, Shift 2; switch at 2:30 am)**

Shimo Jaida, Daniella

Axel Javier, Alejandria

* * *

Javier Teddy, Melody

Alejandria Vanessa, Madame Ruby

* * *

Adam Velma, Xavier

Vanessa Neil, Carrie

* * *

Xavier Adam, Super Cat

Daniella Shimo, Axel

* * *

Melody Vanessa, Carrie

Teddy Velma, Jaida

* * *

Neil Melody, Daniella

Velma Alejandria, Javier

* * *

Madame Ruby Adam, Xavier

Super Cat Teddy, Shimo

* * *

Jaida Madame Ruby, Super Cat

Carrie Neil, Axel

I was a little surprised, seeing Daniella actually took a lot of care in the list. All sixteen of our names were used. No one making food one day was also guarding the same night. It looks like I was in charge of dinner two days from now, as well as taking the second shift for standing guard tonight, as well as a first shift a few days later. I should be able to do all of those things.

It also seems like the one cooking breakfast today was Shimo. Hopefully, he can make something good.

I walk into the cafeteria, seeing that many of us were present after all. Unlike last night, however, people were far more spaced out than before. A few groups have been made at some of the tables or people were simply sitting alone.

Notably, there was a delicious smell floating in the air--curry and rice, I think. I could see Shimo in the window of the kitchen, working over a large serving pot and a rice cooker. He had several of the trays filled up with a hearty serving of the food. I take one of the trays that were still warm and look over at the tables. I decide to sit alone.

“I can’t believe we’re actually playing along with this...” Javier grumbles to himself. It sounds like he was still bitter about the results of the vote.

“I don’t think it’s so bad,” Xavier says from nearby, flashing a dazzling smile. “Seeing your beautiful faces every day improves my own~”

I gagged on my curry when he said that but covered it up with a cough and a napkin over my mouth.

“This is dangerous!” Javier hisses. “Don’t you all see how badly it could end up, having to force ourselves together every day? This is almost too perfect of a time for someone to strike!”

“There’s no better time to strike than in broad daylight, in front of everyone else, at times we all know we’ll be around,” Jaida says sarcastically.

“I know what I’m talking about!” Javier snaps. “This entire idea is a death trap! Why are we even doing it?!”

“Consistency. Comfort. Attendance. Bonding. Insurance.” Carrie listed off every point. “I don’t know what’s safer than knowing where everyone is first thing in the morning. If anyone is missing, they’re either dead or suspicious, and both of those things are important to know. Routine tends to help some people cope with traumatic situations as well. And a handful of us seem to believe it’s best if we get to know each other in some way.”

“All of that is nonsense!” Javier sneers.

“Then why are you even here?” Axel retorts.

“...Alejandria told me she won’t make me tea this afternoon if I didn’t come...”

That’s...really pathetic. By the time I had started eating, it seems like everyone had entered the cafeteria.

“Alright, I’ve taken notice of everyone that was late!” Neil barks, standing up. “Teddy, Vanessa, Velma, Axel, and Ruby! Drop and give me twenty, on the DOUBLE!” He blows into his whistle.

Teddy whines but gets up from his seat to start doing squats. The rest of us don’t move.

“Hey, I told you all to get going! I’ll make you do more if you don't!”

“I’m not doing that,” I reply.

“...I can’t...” Velma mumbles, trying to read a book.

“Quit whining and get to it!” Neil barks. He blows into his whistle again. “Now it’s up to forty for all of you!”

...maybe these breakfasts aren’t such a good idea, after all.

Shimo walks out of the kitchen with a tray of his own, watching the small amount of commotion beginning to form. “...please eat before you do anything else...it’ll help you be ready for the day...”

“It’s called discipline!” Neil retorts. “I told you all there would be a punishment for not coming to breakfast on time, so now you have to do squats! Teddy, you better do all forty!”  
  
“W-Why?!” Teddy demands. He’s already gone through the full twenty in just a few seconds, I don’t see how this will be harder for him. Maybe it’s the principle of it.

Shimo sighs and sits down with his food. “...please just eat...”

Neil huffs, giving the four of us that didn’t give in to his demands a glare before he finally sits down to return to eating. Teddy wasn’t allowed to get up until he finished all of his workouts, though.

“The food is absolutely amazing, Shimo!” Melody comments. “I didn’t know you were such a good cook!”

“...ah...did I not mention..?” Shimo tilts his head. “...I’m the cook in my clan...I handle all meal preparations for us...I’ve learned how to cook food to be hearty so that it will keep everyone full and warm for hours...”

I couldn’t deny that was the exact feeling I got from eating the food. Despite seeming like a standard curry and rice, the food lit a fire in my belly that left me feeling ready for the day. I hadn’t expected that of someone like Shimo, but it’s good to know there’s more than one capable chef here.

“...is anyone gonna say anything?” Daniella finally asks from her seat.

“About..?” Madame Ruby asks in return.

“Uh, how about my scheduling?! I worked on it all night to make sure it was perfect, you know!”

“I thought you did a good job,” Adam assures.

“...I have to admit, I was expecting worse,” I say. “You clearly knew what you were doing.”

“Well, duh! I’m not an Ultimate for no reason! Scheduling and getting everyone to do what they need to is the easy shit!”

“I could have done better...” Javier grumbles, pouting.

There was still tension in the air. Maybe not as severe as last night, but I could certainly feel it. People had broken off into small groups or sat alone to eat, and none of those groups were bigger than three. We might be in the same room and talking, but it’s clear there’s still no trust.

I certainly can’t say I trust any of them. I only know what two of them did to end up here, and even so, either one could be lying to me about it. The rest? I can barely stand being around them, let alone actually trust any of them with my life.

I eat my curry and rice quietly, giving Shimo thanks when I passed him to clean off my dishes and put them away.

I was about to leave the cafeteria when Melody stopped me with a smile. “Vanessa, hey, how are you doing today?”

“...fine?” I honestly don’t know what she was expecting me to say here.

“Oh, well, that’s good! I was thinking of going to the library. Did you...want to come with me?”

“I was just going to go to my room and study, I think.”

Melody frowns softly. Guess she didn’t like that answer. “I’m trying to ask if you want to hang out. We’re friends, after all, and I was hoping we could spend time together.”

“Did I say we were friends?” I ask. “I don’t remember doing that.”

“You...don’t think we’re friends?” Melody asks, dejected.

“Look, it’s nothing against you. I’m sure you’re a nice girl. But look at it from my perspective. I don’t actually know anything about you, You could even be lying about your crime. And with the announcement of the killing game...well, I’d rather be on my own. People are draining anyhow.”

“Well...I think, now more than ever, the one thing we should be doing is trusting each other and getting along,” Melody declares with a determined expression. “We don’t have to be our own biggest enemies. If all sixteen of us team up to fight back against Sgt. Al, I know we can stop this killing game before anyone has to get hurt!”

What a painfully optimistic outlook to have. I know she’d find it difficult to find anyone in the group that shares such a sentiment. I think most of us are comfortable spending as little time together as necessary, which is why the room was slowly emptying around us as everyone finished their breakfasts.

“Don’t you think that’s naive?” I ask. “No one trusts each other; we hardly even like each other. Even these moments we spend together exist solely due to suspicion and distrust. We don’t trust each other to be alone all the time, even if we don’t want to be together, either.”

“That’s why I want to get to know everyone and be their friends!” Melody demands. “Even if I have to do it one person at a time, I want all of us to be the best of friends and work together to get out of here somehow! That’s how we’ll stop Sgt. Al, I know it!”

I knew Melody could be a bit of a chatterbox sometimes, but I hadn’t realized she could be this headstrong, either. I still can’t say I agree with her methods but...there is, admittedly, some value to getting to know the others. Finding out reasons they might murder, things that could be exploited should they make themselves threats, what makes them tick--there’s information to be gathered that can be useful.

“...so you think we should all be doing that, then?” I ask. “Spending time together?”

“I do.”

“...” I can’t believe I’m actually about to say this. “Alright then, Melody. I’ll try it your way. I’ll meet you in the library soon and we’ll spend some time together. Just...give me a moment to get ready.”

Melody’s expression immediately lights up. “Really? Oh, that’s wonderful, Vanessa! Thank you so much! I knew I could rely on you! I’ll be waiting for you there!” She practically skips out of the room from there.

I head to my room to take a moment to breathe and collect myself. I didn’t have the greatest people skills and I knew this was going to be taxing but...there’s definitely some worth to spending individual time with everyone in the group. There’s nothing more valuable in this world than information, and this was going to be the easiest way to gather it.

After I find myself in a good enough headspace to spend time with the others, I leave my room.

[FREE TIME - START!]

I made my way to the library, finding Melody was there like she had told me she would be. Well, if there’s anyone around here to try getting to know better, she’d be one of them.

She was going through the shelves at the moment, likely on the hunt for a book she wants to read. I walk over to her and stop a couple of feet behind her. “I hope you intend to keep these books in the library.”

“Ah!” Melody turns around to face me with a smile. “Vanessa, you really did come! I’m so happy to see you!”

“Mm. I didn’t have much else going on today, I suppose. Nothing that urgently needs my attention. Seeing as how we aren’t expected to have classes anymore...”

“Well! How about we do find something to read then, hm? Oh, I know! We should make our own book club! I can invite Velma and Madame Ruby, and the others, though I dunno if they’d be as happy to join...”

I already don’t like Madame Ruby, so having a book club with everyone sounds like utter misery.

“I’ll...think about it. Why don’t we find something to read for now? I don’t read much for pleasure and I’m sure you have recommendations.”

“Don’t you worry, I’ll find you the perfect book, Vanessa!” Melody grabs my hand and I’m tugged along to begin browsing the selection. I spend some time listening to Melody babble about books. The two of us grew a little closer today.

In the end, I had been given a book on ancient history. It was a place to start, at least. Even if it didn’t feel too different from simply grabbing a textbook, I wasn’t going to have to study it. I could just...read it. For no reason. Why did I want free time again?

“Thanks for the help,” I say. I tuck the book under my arm and go to the front desk to log it. Even if there’s no official librarian and I don’t expect anyone else to care, I figured I might as well.

“Oh, you don’t have to log it, you know!” Melody says. “I’ll be able to remember you have it. It’s how I do it back at my library!”

“...it is?” I ask, giving her my attention again. “You just remember every book that’s taken out?”

“Mhmm! And their return dates, who has them, as well as members in general. I’m not that good with technology, honestly, and I’m a little too scattered for writing things down, so I just memorize it! All I have to do is file it away in my head and...boom!”

She makes it sound like it was simple. If I could just remember any information I wanted to like that, I could get twice as much done in a day.

“I’m impressed, Melody. I didn’t realize your memory was that good.”

“Oh, yeah, I’m great at memorizing things! I even keep a catalog of all my books in my head, so I notice whenever any go missing.”

She has a memory that good and she decides to be a goddamn librarian? She could excel in nearly any STEM field like that and she uses her mind to memorize book names! Ugh...I’m better than this. I won’t let jealousy get the best of me.

“What you’re talking about, it’s highly superior autobiographical memory, isn’t it?” I ask. “I recall reading it while studying for psychology. It usually means people have an easier time recalling moments in their life in key details and attaching dates to them. That would help keep track of when people need to return books.”

“Oh, yeah, I think so! I suppose when it comes to books, I just have an easy time keeping track of it. It makes it really hard to reread them, though. I always remember the ending...but that’s why I like history books so much! They’re raw facts, so there’s less emotional involvement needed when I read them. It’s good when I just want to zone out with a book in my hands.”

I’m still not over the fact she has such an impressive memory so naturally. I had to work hard to research and practice mnemonic skills so I could study effectively. It’ll just be easier if I leave with my book instead of dwelling on it.

“Well...thank you for the help, I’ll let you know how the reading goes,” I say.

“Oh, right, sure thing! Come see me again whenever you’re ready for the next book, Vanessa!” Melody waves happily as I walk out of the room. I don’t think I’ll understand that girl’s priorities at all.

I went to my room to put the book away. Begrudgingly, however, I decided I was going to go back out and interact some more. I had the energy for it, after all, and there was more to learn about.

Velma was at the indoor garden when I entered. She was sitting on a bench, staring wistfully as some tulips with her chin resting on her hand. She didn’t seem to notice me until I got closer, but all she gave me was a glance before she was back to staring at the flower.

“If now’s a bad time, I can leave,” I say.

A sigh drips from the poet’s lips. “You’re not a walking headache...it’s fine.”

I’m glad I could at least pass that low hurdle. I take a seat on the bench with Velma. If we were supposed to talk about something, I wasn’t sure what. I much preferred the silence, and frankly, I presumed that she did as well.

Instead, the two of us sat in the quiet, peaceful atmosphere of the indoor garden. It was...nice. Velma and I spent some time enjoying the serenity. The two of us grew a little closer today.

“...I suppose one of us will have to break this silence eventually,” Velma mutters softly. “This is just getting awkward.”

I thought it was nice, but I suppose I have also been trying to think of something to say, too. “If you don’t mind me asking, then, is this what you do to gain inspiration?”

“...you don’t particularly know what type of poetry I write, correct?” Velma responds.

“No, I think I mentioned before that I haven’t read any of it.”

“Most would describe my style of writing as...melancholy. I’m known best for being able to tug on the heartstrings of my readers with the way I spin words. So, flowers and gardens and serenity is not my typical muse.”

“So what is typically your muse?”

“...plain and simple; boredom. Sitting in my bed as often as I do, well, you find your mind easily wandering. I started keeping those thoughts written down...under recommendation.”

“Bedridden? You get sick often?” Just looking at her, I wasn’t too surprised by that conclusion. She looks like she should be in a hospital instead of here.

Velma frowns gently. “...yes, I suppose I am. It’s obvious enough. I can’t say I look like the pinnacle of health and wellness. I’m lucky to be feeling in good enough health as it is, but...all of these schedules are going to be draining on me.”

She’d likely be safer in her room than anywhere else, though. But if she spends so much time in it as she claims, I imagine she would want to avoid it as much as possible.

“Well, I’ll leave you to your peace,” I say, standing up again. “I’m sure this type of quality time with nature is good for you.”

“Mm...yes, it is. We can reconvene another time. Until then.” Velma looks off into space again and I leave to give her her privacy.

I was minding my own business, trying to decide if I really wanted to spend any more time with anyone when I heard sounds coming from the auditorium. Grunting..? Is something going on in there?

Against my better judgment, I walk into the auditorium. Neil was there, using the stage as a space to work out. I suppose without an actual gym of any kind, he’d have to make do with what he has. Couldn’t he just do this in his room, though..?

With that mystery solved, I turned to make my exit. I stop when a high-pitched whistle shrieks through the air. Dammit, he spotted me after all...

“Vanessa!” Neil barks from behind me.

I hesitantly turn around. “Hello, Neil...”

“You’re just in time for my workout regimen! Come here and I’ll see what you’re made of!”

Would I make it if I ran? He was all the way on the other side of the room. I might be able to get back to my bedroom if I book it. Then again, he’s...probably faster than me. I sigh and relent, making my way up to the stage with Neil.

“Good! Now, we’ll start with something basic so I can see where you are in terms of physique. Let’s get started with twenty situps!” Neil blows into his whistle. If he keeps doing it, I’m shoving the damn thing down his throat. I spend some time being judged by Neil. The two of us grew a little closer today.

“You’re very capable,” Neil says as I get back to my feet. “You must exercise in your own time, correct?”

...do I? For some reason, I can’t...remember. But the regimen Neil had me do honestly wasn’t that bad. “...I suppose so,” I finally say. “But I didn’t ask for your help with anything, either. I’m not looking for a personal trainer.”

“A damn shame, I’m sure with my help, you could reach new heights! They say the body is a temple, but I’m the sculptor here!”

“Are personal trainers always this brash? You’re awfully pushy, even with people who didn’t ask for your help.”

“You might not like my methods, but they work, Vanessa! I picked up on my skills from the army, since my father is a lieutenant! I’ve seen how he handles his platoon, and they’re all in the best shape!”

A military brat then. Well, I can’t say I’m surprised about that. I am surprised his methods even work, though. I don’t see the appeal of being yelled at to get into shape. I suppose the pressure must get results. Doesn’t sound very healthy, though.

“So you treat clients like soldiers in training, then? And they’re okay with that..?”

“If they hired me, they will be! It’s all in the contract I have them sign. They must be willing for anything and everything I throw at them! Exercise regimens and dietary advice are only the tip of the iceberg! It’s all about attitude, and I make sure to whip them into shape or die trying!”

This just sounds like a way to recruit insecure people into the army after making sure they’re fit and used to the treatment. If that’s the case, Teddy might just be the latest recruitment. Maybe I should try to keep him away from Neil more. Teddy’s annoying, but...frankly, he’d get eaten alive in an environment in that. I think that’d end up weighing on my conscience.

“Well, I have no intentions of hiring you still, so if we’re done here, I’d like to go.”

“Mm...fine. But just because you haven’t hired me doesn’t mean I can’t make suggestions for your own well-being! You should join me for workouts more often! I do them daily after lunch!”

I’d rather just listen to him blow a whistle for five minutes. “I’ll think about it.” I leave the room without much more of a goodbye.

It’s getting later. I’m sure the person in charge of dinner was already working. It was Axel tonight, wasn’t it? Should...we even trust him with an oven? Maybe I’ll wait to go in there after the food is made...

For now, I decide the best course of action was to go to the library and read that book Melody had given me. If I don’t smell smoke or hear screaming soon, I can assume that it’ll be safe to enter the cafeteria.

Melody was still in the library by the time I entered, but Madame Ruby and Velma had also entered. It seems like the three of them were having a conversation of some kind. They were sitting at the table, holding hands. A few candles were lit around them. Madame Ruby’s back was turned to me and the other two hadn’t noticed my entrance.

“...his soul still lingers in these walls,” Madame Ruby says. “Yes, I can feel it now...Rascal-san is still among us...”

“That’s so scary...” Melody whimpers. “There really are ghosts here...”

“...you’re sure you can commune with him?” Velma asks in her soft voice.

“I can only commune with spirits should they be willing to commune,” Madame Ruby advises. “If we are lucky, Rascal-san will be able to speak and name his killer. However, it’s likely his recent and shocking death may cause him to be unavailable at this time.”

...they’re...seriously holding a seance? Well, I’m not surprised by Melody being involved in this, but Velma? I didn’t think she believed in this nonsense that much.

“Huang-san, if you intend to stand there and gawk at us, you may as well join,” Madame Ruby says.

...okay, how the hell did she do that? I glance around, looking for a mirror, but I couldn’t see one. I venture closer. “Apologies, I was just coming by to do some reading before dinner. You three are holding a seance, correct?”

“Madame Ruby said she could feel Rascal’s restless soul was still with us!” Melody says. “When I heard that, I just knew we had to try and contact him! He must know who’s doing this!”

“...I happened to be in the room when they came in,” Velma explains. “I thought it wouldn’t hurt to try...we don’t have any other leads.”

“Would you care to join us?” Madame Ruby asks. “The more people we have, the stronger our energy will be. It’ll make it easier for Rascal-san to receive our request.”

“...sorry, but I’d rather not if it’s all the same to you.” I don’t particularly want to be playing along with this madness right now.

“That’s a shame, but there’s no sense in forcing you. If you do not mind then, Huang-san, could we have some privacy?”

If she wanted some privacy, they should have just done the seance in her room. “Sure, I’ll go to the cafeteria, after all, I suppose.” I leave the room so they could continue in peace.

In the cafeteria, I could smell the food being made already. It was chili. The smell was familiar, I’ve had it a few times before when visiting Father’s family in the states. At least Axel could cook.

A few of the others were in the room at the moment, but I take a seat at a table alone so I could try to read...and shamelessly eavesdrop, just in case anything said is of importance.

“Ridiculous...” Javier grumbles to himself. “I can’t believe they’re expecting me to do all of this! Staying up at night to watch empty halls, cooking for these plebeians...it’s insulting! It’s degrading! I’m not a servant for these people!”

“You’ve been complaining about this all day,” Alejandria sighs. “Give it a rest. Daniella already refused to take your name off the list.”

“Everyone thinks she’s such a great leader, but she’s just a snot-nosed bitch!”

“Oh, yes, I’m sure you’re well-acquainted with that type of person, Your Highness.”

“...what the hell is that supposed to mean, _hermana idiota_?!”

“Nothing at all, _hermanito_.”

Do those two ever get along? I’m surprised Alejandria even bothers to spend as much time with him as she does, prince or not.

“Mister Super Cat, um...can you show me some of your moves later?” Teddy asked from a table across from me. “I always want to meet real-life superhero, and I was hoping you could show me how you do it!’

“Haha, of course, I can give you a demonstration!” Super Cat booms happily. “In fact, you’re a big guy, aren’t you? We should spar sometime, so you can see the full experience!”

“S-Spar? Oh, um, but I am not good fighter, Mister Super Cat...that sounds scary...”

“I’ll go easy on you, no worries! I wouldn’t dare try to hurt you!”

“Well...okay, if you promise, then I love to, yes! We can do it after dinner tonight, it will be fun!”

“Then it’s a date! We’ll meet in the auditorium since it has plenty of space!’

“...d-date?!” Teddy squeaks, his face flushing red.

“Ah, I...didn’t mean it like that,” Super Cat assures nervously.

Those two are going to make such a racket doing something like that. I suppose I’ll just steer clear of that entire area once I finish eating dinner.

The others were trickling into the room as we approached the scheduled dinner time. It wasn’t long after the last of us entered that Axel came out of the kitchen and slammed a massive pot down on the serving window. “Supper time, folks!”

We all line up, serving ourselves a portion of the chili onto a tray to eat. Axel stood behind the window, arms crossed, beaming with absolute pride as we got our food.

Everyone sat down, beginning to chatter and eat. I find a place on my own, not paying much attention to the others as I begin to eat my helping.

“Grrk!” I almost coughed it up in a messy splatter, only barely managing to slap a hand over my mouth before I could. But I end up regretting that decision just as much as I would have regretted making a total fool of myself.

My entire face was turning red. My mouth was on fire! I force myself to swallow, the mouthful dragging the fire down with it. I stood up abruptly, and it seems I wasn’t the only one. Several others had already gotten to their feet to charge at the kitchen.

“What the fuck did you put in this?!” Daniella screeches, fanning her tongue desperately.

“Hm? Oh, I just made some five-alarm chili!” Axel chirps. “I used cayenne, jalapeno, crushed red pepper, tabasco, chili pepper, and buffalo sauce! This kitchen is awesome, isn’t it?”

“How much did you use?” Xavier asks, forcing a smile as his face burned scarlet and sweat trickled down.

“Oh, well, I’ve never made it before, so I kind of forget the recipe. I just threw stuff in until it seemed right. Those spice bottles are super small though, so I dumped all of those in. Same with the tabasco!”

I could feel my tongue dying inside of my mouth. I’d only been partially listening as I got to the kitchen. Neil and Carrie were fighting over the milk right now and Teddy had already poured it all over his face. I start ransacking the fridge until I found some coffee creamer and start drinking it straight.

The dairy products didn’t last much longer from there. Tubs of ice cream were taken just to have tongue put on them and Daniella was currently shoveling gobs of sour cream into her mouth with tears running down her face.

“...sooo, I’m guessing you guys didn’t like the chili?” Axel asks as everyone finally started to calm down.

“It...haa...could use some improvements...” Melody says gently, still fanning her tongue.

“I never thought I’d find something hotter than the faces I’ve seen around here but...heh...well...” Xavier was still sweating, but he was trying his best to smile brightly.

“God, you fucking idiot!” Daniella snaps. “What the fuck is wrong with you?!” She chucks the now half-empty carton of sour cream at Axel. It nails him in the head, making the pyromaniac cry out and knocking his hat off.

“Miss Daniella, please calm down,” Teddy says.

“Can’t you do anything right, you freak?!” Daniella carries on yelling, not even listening to Teddy. “Who just dumps that much spice into one pot of chili?! Is your head just empty? Do you have a brain to use or are you just a worthless monkey?”

“I didn’t mean to hurt anyone...” Axel murmurs softly, shrinking back. Sour cream was dripping down his suit now, a lot of it having splattered onto him.

“Yeah? Then you should have fucking thought for two seconds! God, you’re such a worthless waste of space, you know that? Maybe someone should put you out of your misery and fucking ki--”

Daniella stops when Shimo puts a hand on her shoulder. “...that’s enough...” he says softly. “...it was an accident...you need to stop...”

Daniella grits her teeth. “...fuck this, I’m going to my room.” She shakes Shimo’s hand off and storms for the door. She pauses and comes back so she could kick over the pot of chili. It hits the floor, making a massive mess. “You’re not cooking again, freakshow!” And then she turns and leaves the cafeteria.

While Daniella hadn’t exactly made herself out to be the most pleasant person around, that scene was a bit more...intense than I had expected from her. It let most of us silent, except for Axel, who was sniffling quietly.

“...alright, I’ve decided!” Melody says with a determined expression. “Shimo, can you take Axel to his room to get him cleaned up? I’ll mop up the chili. Teddy, Super Cat, can you two help me?”

“...I can do that...” Shimo says softly. He walks over to Axel and walks off with him.

“I’ll help you out, Miss Melody!” Teddy agrees.

“As will I! That mess will be gone in mere moments!” Super Cat boasts.

Shimo leads Axel out of the room while the cleaning crew gets started on cleaning up the chili. I step out of the kitchen, wiping some coffee creamer off my chin. In the cafeteria, it seems like the only ones that hadn’t eaten the chili were Alejandria, Javier, Adam, Madame Ruby, and Velma.

“It was foolish of you all to eat that food!” Javier says, his nose stuck up in the air.

“This is why no one voted for you,” Jaida retorts.

Velma sighs and pushes the tray of chili away from herself. “Well, I don’t much like chili anyway...but I think this brings up a point of contention: what do we do with Daniella?”

“What do you mean?” Teddy asks. He was on his knees as he helped shovel as much of the chili back into the pot as he could with Melody and Super Cat.

“...you did all see the same events I did, yes?” Velma asks with a frown. “She assaulted Axel, both physically and verbally. She did nothing to alleviate the situation. She even made a mess in her rage that other people are cleaning up now. And we want to rely on her to keep any semblance of order in the minor position of power she’s been placed in?”

“While I agree that Hawthorne-san did an excellent job with the listing, I can’t help but question her qualifications to even be allowed to continue to do that,” Madame Ruby agrees.

“Does it really matter?” Neil asks. “It’s not like she’s our actual leader. All we did was have her be the one to make the schedules for us to follow, nothing more! She has no further power over us.”

“Neil has a point,” Adam agrees. “Her outburst was telling of her character, but it hardly means anything.”

“I think we should at least talk to her about it,” Melody says as she stands up from the floor. She gently picks up Axel’s fedora, which had been left on the floor. “She really upset Axel. We should at least have her apologize...”

“Does it really matter?” Carrie counters. “We don’t need to be getting involved in any of their personal business. If she wants to apologize, she can do so in her own time.”

“Of course it matters! Axel’s feelings matter! We should all be trying to get along, shouldn’t we? We won’t get anywhere if we don’t!”

“We’re not friends here,” Velma practically growls, putting both hands down on the table. “We’re not going to fix anything with friendship and hope. As it stands, we’re all enemies. I participate in this silliness so long as it continues to benefit me. Keeping track of everyone does that so far.”

“Velma, you can’t really believe that...” Melody asks softly.

“She has a point,” Alejandria says. “The only dangers we truly face here are each other. These meetings and the nighttime guarding will be effective in keeping track of people throughout the day, which will make murders harder. That only benefits us...presuming we don’t plan to kill.”

“But no one else feels that way!” Melody declares. “...r-right?”

The rest of the group was quiet for a little bit. I couldn’t argue with what the others were saying. The cooking, the group meals, the nighttime patrol--all of those are just methods to keep a headcount and an eye on each other. It’s not an effort to bond or because we want to be friends, but merely a facet of the distrust that surges through us all.

“...I’m on your side, Melody!” Super Cat finally booms. “I’ll do what I can to ensure the safety of the group! We should be trying to get along! If we become friends and bond, then we wouldn’t even think about killing each other!”

“That’s a ridiculously simplistic outlook to have,” I chide.

“I want to believe in Miss Melody, too!” Teddy pipes up. “I think she’s right! I wanna be friends with everyone and make sure no one gets hurt!”

“Well, it’s always nice to have some wishful thinking,” Xavier agrees, flashing a bright smile. “I can’t help but trust someone so adorable.”

Melody’s face flushes red again and she couldn’t help but giggle shyly.

“This is so stupid,” I sigh. “But...there is a point to be made somewhere in all of that. Daniella’s clearly unstable, and even if the position we allowed her to have doesn’t come with real power, I don’t trust her to keep it from going to her head. We need to do something about her.”

“Well, since we’ll be meeting for breakfast tomorrow anyway, why don’t we talk to her about it then?” Adam asks. “At the very least, we can snip this entire drama in the bud.”

“I would prefer that over listening to Daniella make a scene every time she sees Axel...” Velma admits.

“Then we’ll just have a talk with her tomorrow and smooth everything over!” Melody says. “It’s all going to go great, just you watch!”

Well, if anything, Melody’s blind optimism could be charming at times. It seems to have calmed down the atmosphere in the cafeteria a bit and everyone was ready to move on with their night now that we had a plan.

With our dinner plans wasted, everyone was left to fend for themselves now. I wasn’t much of a cook--I either got food at restaurants or my father cooked--so I was rather defenseless. I...realize this might be an issue when it’s my turn to make food, but I’ll cross that bridge when I get there. I decide jam on bread would suffice, especially since my tongue was still raw from that bite of chili.

With the mess cleaned up, dinner went on quietly. Axel, Shimo, and Daniella never did return to the room, though Super Cat offered to check up on them, reporting back that they were all fine, with Daniella in her room and Shimo in Axel’s room with said owner.

I decide to head to my own room after dinner. With all the conversing I did today, plus our two mandatory group meetings, I was exhausted. I can’t handle seeing the others for the rest of the day, so I sat down to do some studying until an announcement played over the school.

“AttenTION!” Sgt. Al barks over the screens. “It’s now 10 pm, so all inmates report to bed ON THE PRONTO! It’s lights out!”

I sigh softly and shut my book. Alright, best to get to bed then. I took the time to actually get ready for bed tonight, but when I noticed something while changing my clothes that caused my blood to run cold.

On my shoulder, just under my neck, was a surgical scar. It looks like it had been there for some time, however...I didn’t recognize it at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The list may not format correctly on mobile, so sorry about that!


	6. Chapter 1: No Crimes Are Created Equal - Daily Life Part III

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alongside dealing with Daniella, Sgt. Al finally decides to drop the motive onto the group. Now they have to deal with the knowledge at their fingertips and the temptations that come with it...assuming anyone even has doubts in the first place.
> 
> Randomized FTEs: Adam, Super Cat, Daniella

I didn’t sleep very well last night. It was just a small thing to keep me up--a single scar on my shoulder, one that wasn’t even that large. But I know for a fact I’ve never seen it before and no matter how much I racked my brain, I couldn’t think of any reason for it to be there. The harder I thought about it, too, the worse of a headache I found myself with.

I managed to get to sleep at some point, but it wasn’t for very long before I was woken up again by...

“UP AND ATTAM, MAGGOTS!” Sgt. Al’s voice echoes through the school over the speakers. “It’s 7 am, so GET UP and GET TO IT! You have a whole life sentence to live out!”

I groan and throw my blanket off of myself. I hated sleeping in, so even without that annoying alarm, I would have gotten up anyway. But I’m going to be bitter about it just to spite that stupid toy.

I got myself ready for the day and walk out of my room, rubbing the sleeping from my eyes. Breakfast was going to be...interesting today. Not only was Javier meant to cook us food, but there was going to be a group intervention of sorts with Daniella. I wonder if I can get away with skipping out on it...

...probably not. I can already picture Melody knocking on my door and asking me if I’m awake and feeling okay. We’d get into some meaningless argument and I’d go to the cafeteria anyway because it’ll be faster than whatever conversation we’d have over my lack of attendance.

With a sigh, I made my way downstairs and into the cafeteria to see what hell awaited me.

I don’t think I was ready for what I ended up witnessing when I entered the cafeteria. There was a massive spread of food set out on one of the tables. It ranged from basics like rice and beans, to more complex foods like eggs benedict and beautifully made tomato bruschetta. Aside from that, I also took note that Sgt. Al was marching up and down the cafeteria, a toy gun propped against his shoulder.

“Vanessa, good morning!” Melody chirps, already at my side to greet me.

“...what’s going on around here?” I ask. “I thought Javier was cooking today.”

“He is! He’s been in the kitchen all morning making breakfast for us!”

I found that incredibly hard to believe. “He made all of this in the half-hour we had since the morning announcement?”

“Oh, he’s been at it since 6 am!”

“I thought the cafeteria was locked that early in the morning.”

“Sgt. Al gave him special permission to come in early to make breakfast, especially since Javier was up all night on patrol! Well, he has to be here, too, to watch after us...”

So that explains why he’s on guard right now. I don’t think I’m comfortable with any of this, but I suppose it makes sure that food is prepared a bit earlier today at least.

“I still can’t believe Javier cooked all of... _this_.”

“Well, you should!” Javier says, standing in the door of the kitchen with a smug grin. He had a large platter in his hand. It was a roasted chicken, the edges of the plate decorated with carrots and potatoes. Wasn’t this supposed to be breakfast..? He sets it down with the rest of the food, that smug expression never leaving his face. “I’m an amazing cook! I could have done more if I wasn’t so tired from that infernal night guard duty...but I’ve pulled something off regardless! So you best bow to me in thanks!”

...I’m not doing that. “Where did you learn to cook so well? You don’t exactly strike me as the type.”

“I taught him, actually,” Alejandria says. “He might be a prince, but I thought it necessary to teach him some basic life skills.”

That makes far more sense. I wouldn’t be surprised if she even helped him in the kitchen a bit today and he was simply taking the credit.

“And I am exceptionally skilled at it!” Javier continues to boast. “I pick up new skills quickly, after all!”

I pick up one of the bruschettas and take a bite of it. “...” It actually is really good. The crispy bread and the juicy tomatoes make for a delicious combination. “I’m impressed, _Nỗi đau hoàng gia_ , I’ll give you that.”

Javier grins wide, arms crossed over his chest. “I knew you would be. Any commoner would be when tasting true culinary art!”

“...don’t push it.” I get a tray of food, finishing the bruschetta I had tasted as I sit down. I take a look around and noticed that Daniella hadn’t shown up yet.

“Are we going to be waiting here for Daniella all morning?” I ask. “She might be trying to avoid us after yesterday.”

“I’m sure she’ll be here,” Xavier assures. “I saw her when I got out of bed. She borrowed some of my eyeliner, so I think she’s just getting herself ready~”

“You wear eyeliner?” Super Cat asks. “I hadn’t even noticed!”

Xavier flashes a bright, shining smile. “Of course. I have to look my picture-perfect self, you know~ I make sure all my makeup goes to making me look natural, though. I don’t like overdoing it.”

I couldn’t imagine being _that_ self-absorbed. I’ve only ever used makeup to help make myself appear more professional. Nude colors are usually good for that, but a bit of lipstick can go a long way, too. I don’t particularly like it, though.

“Are we going to have to have Sgt. Al here when we do this?” Jaida asks.

“This is my prison!” the gator barks. “I can be anywhere I damn well please!”

“Just ignore him,” Carrie says, tapping at her tablet. “It’s rather easy.”

“You do not ignore a commanding officer!” Neil demands. “Show him the respect his ranking deserves!”

“Um...I do not think he actually in army, Mister Neil,” Teddy says tentatively.

“Oh, what do you even know?!” was the trainer’s reply.

I can feel that headache returning. I hope Daniella shows up soon.

I was just about done with my breakfast when the rock star finally arrived in the room. It looks like she’s dolled herself up and she had a massive grin on her face. Definitely a contrast to last night.

“Morning, everyone~ Sorry I’m late, my hair would _not_ cooperate with me.” She twirls the end of one of her pigtails between her fingers and grins in our direction. “But I’m here now, so no need to worry!”

“Daniella, we need to have a talk,” Super Cat starts, standing up from his seat. “Can you please sit down?”

“...uh, I guess?” Daniella looked confused, but took a seat anyway. “Is this gonna take long? Cause, like, that food smells _really_ good.”

“...you need to apologize to Pyre-san for what happened yesterday...” Shimo says softly, standing next to the pyrotechnic in question. Axel had his head down like he was afraid of looking at Daniella.

“Why?” Daniella scoffs, her lips perking up to a confused smile. “He’s the one that messed up dinner last night, right? He should be apologizing to us.”

“You really upset him last night, Miss Daniella,” Teddy says.

“You were also incredibly out of line,” Adam adds.

“Oh, so that’s what this is?” Daniella asks, getting to her feet. “You all wanna try to talk back to me now? I’m not the one that fucked up someone as simple as _chili_. That bastard is lucky I didn’t--”

“Don’t even start,” Alejandria demands. “We’re all in agreement that you need to apologize.”

Daniella nods slowly, looking at all of us as she twirls her hair around. “Yeah? All of you? Cause if I remember right, you voted me as the leader. So I think I get to make decisions around here. So how about you assholes get over yourselves and shut your traps, huh? Can you do that for me?”

“First off, you’re not our leader,” Velma says. “Secondly, we all agreed we don’t even want you in the role we gave you anymore.”

“What? You can’t do that!” Daniella demands. “You voted for me, so I’m in charge!”

“...you’re not in charge of us...” Shimo murmurs. “...you won’t apologize...so you’re being removed from your position...”

“Seriously?! All over the freak in the suit? Who gives a fuck about him?! He’s useless anyway!”

“Please, _Sao băng_ , stop embarrassing yourself,” I say. “The only thing you were in charge of was making those lists, but we don’t even want you with that much power anymore. You had one day in this position and we've all come to the consensus that you don't deserve it now. Have some self-reflection, at the very least.”

A scowl stretches along Daniella’s reddening face. “Get off your high horse, you fucking _bitch_! Nobody here even likes you! Who are you even going to replace me with, huh? The fucking furry over there? Or the little pussy hiding behind his sister all the time?!”

“D-Don’t...call me that...” Super Cat whimpers, tears welling in his eyes.

“I don’t hide behind Alejandria!” Javier demands. “She stands in front of me, that’s all!”

“...well, I wouldn’t mind putting Brooks-san into the position...” Shimo says.

Melody perks up, having been quiet for some time. “Huh? Really?”

“...you were the one that tried to get us to all come together...you helped after Hawthorne-san left us with her mess...I think you’re deserving of it...”

“I’d vote for Brooks-san as well,” Madame Ruby says. “It’d be...interesting~”

“I don’t see why it matters, but I would put my vote toward Melody as well, above anyone else,” Velma mumbles.

“Miss Melody really nice, I think she would be great leader!” Teddy says happily.

“...I think I’d like her to be in charge, too,” Axel finally says, rubbing his arm.

“Melody seems almost as cool as I do,” Jaida says. “Once I teach her about the heart of the cards, I think she’ll be perfect for the job!”

“She seems like a wonderful choice~” Xavier says with a smile. “I’d follow her into battle, no doubt about it.”

“This isn’t a real leadership position,” Adam reminds. “...but it seems like it’s important to the rest of you, so I’d put my vote to Melody, too.”

“I can’t believe no one’s voting for me again!” Javier demands. “...ugh, fine, I’ll vote for the book girl...”

It seems like everyone was in agreement, in the end. A unanimous vote to let Melody handle the lists and their enforcement. Well, other than Daniella.

“You cannot be serious right now,” Daniella says, flabbergasted. “Her?!”

“Everyone...” Melody had a big smile on her face, one of her hands resting on her chest. She must be choking up because she sniffled. “I can’t tell you how happy I am right now...I’ll gladly do my best for everyone! I promise I won’t let you down!”

“This is so fucking stupid!” Daniella demands. “I thought the position didn’t even mean anything! Why am I being removed from it anyway?! I didn’t even do anything wrong!”

“You really don’t see what’s wrong with the way you treated Axel last night?” I ask.

“Uh, no?! I was telling the truth! Just because he couldn’t handle that doesn’t make it my fault! You’re all just jealous of how good of a job I was doing, huh?! Just like those bitches I call bandmates! All because one of you is too pathetic to handle a bit of criticism, the rest of you decide to gang up on me for no reason!”

“You treat your bandmates like this?” Carrie asks. “I can’t imagine why they’d stay around you, then. Must be a miserable experience.”

“Daniella, I just want you to apologize,” Melody says more sternly. “You really hurt Axel’s feelings and you need to own up to that and try to make up with him.”

“I don’t have to do shit. In case you all forgot, we’re not friends around here! This is a killing game and I trust you assholes about as far as I can throw you!”

“Don’t talk like that!” Melody counters. “We have to trust each other more than anything right now! If we don’t, then something terrible might happen here! Nobody wants that to happen, I know that! We’re not bad people!”

“Gwah haw haw haw haw!” Deep laughter started echoing in the room and we all look at Sgt. Al. He’d dropped his toy gun so he could put both paws on his belly while letting out such boisterous laughter.

“What the hell is he doing..?” Daniella asks, looking a lot more worried than before.

“I sense something sinister in the air...the spirits are unsettled...” Madame Ruby says softly.

“It’s just so funny how quickly you criminals change your tunes!” Sgt. Al says. “Wasn’t it just yesterday that all of you were thinking about killing each other? Now you want to play buddy-buddy and listen to short and stout over here?”

“Hey!” Melody huffs.

“It’s just some meaningless position organizing lists for our schedules,” Velma says. “You’re taking it more seriously than most of us are.”

I sigh. “This entire show has been rather obnoxious, but I suppose there’s something you’re getting at by bothering us?”

“Private Neil!” Sgt. Al calls out. “What’s one of the best ways to motivate someone to do something?”

“Sir!” Neil stands straight as a ruler, feet together and arms at his side, saluting the gator. “Several ways include appealing to emotions, give reasonable times and expectations, appeal to values, give several incentives--”

“At ease, soldier! I heard _exactly_ what I wanted to.”

“I cannot believe how pathetic that guy is,” Daniella says.

“Try looking in a mirror,” I shoot back. I look at Sgt. Al. “Care to explain the point of that?”

“Gladly! I’m not just here to keep an eye on you lot! I’ve come to deliver a motive to you all!”

“A motive..?” Velma asks. “To kill?”

“Precisely! It seems leaving isn’t nearly enough for all of you. I was expecting criminals like you to have already struck someone down, but it seems I have to get a bit more drastic! No matter, it worked so well last time, I’m sure we’ll get there!”

...last time? What...did he mean by last time?

“So, I decided to start simple for you simpleminded criminals!” Sgt. Al goes on before anyone could ask him questions. “You all remember those handbooks you have, don’t you? Check them again! I’ve given each of you a new tab to look at!”

Reluctantly, most of us fish out our handbooks to see what he was talking about. Sure enough, there was a new tab among the rest that simply read ‘Motive’. Not a very creative name...

“What are we expected to find if we click on this?” Adam asks.

“You’ll find the crime of one of your fellow inmates!” Sgt. Al explains. “It’s completely randomized for each student, but now one of you will know exactly what another has done!”

“That seems like an awful motive,” Carrie says. “Why would anyone want to kill for that?”

“Tell me, how many of you have actually admitted to what you’ve done to wind up here? I don’t recall a lot of open confessionals!”

Everyone is fairly quiet. I only know what Melody and Super Cat have done and even then, there’s no real guarantee they’re telling the truth.

“Then why don’t we just open up about what we’ve all done?” Super Cat suggests in his loud voice. “That way, there’ll be no room for doubt!”

“...normally, I’d like to agree,” Xavier starts, “but I’m not sure I’m comfortable telling all of you...I hope you’re willing to understand.”

“I’m not particularly proud of my actions...” Velma admits. “I’d rather not think about it.”

“Well, I’ll start then!” Melody says. “I stole books from bookstores to fill the shelves of my library with new releases quickly. I got caught eventually, and by then, I had so many books...that there was nothing for me to do.”

“Well, you all already know what I did thanks to Rascal,” I sigh. “Does anyone else want to step up?”

The room was quiet otherwise. Even those usually willing to side with Melody were silent. I can’t say I’m shocked. All the talk about sticking together and being friends always seemed like meaningless platitudes. No one here actually trusted each other, even with information as meaningless as what crime we committed to wind up here.

“Mm...” Melody didn’t seem ready to let it go, though. “...well, it doesn’t matter! I don’t care what anyone else here has done, I’m still gonna trust them all! You can’t stop me!”

“Can your dear friends really say the same, though?” Sgt. Al counters.

“W-Well...” Melody frowns, looking at the others, but no one was willing to meet her gaze. Even I couldn’t help but find the corner more interesting when she looked at me. “I know we can get there at some point! We just need to keep trying and eventually, we’ll all be the best of friends! I know it!”

“Whatever you say, maggot!” Sgt. Al snaps in return. He picks up his gun from off the floor, putting it on his shoulder again. “I’ll be seeing you all later! Remember, lights out at twenty hundred hours!”

The gator marches his way right out of the room, leaving us all with the new information.

“...so...should we look at what we were given..?” Shimo finally asks. “...it could be wise to know what the rest of us are capable of...”

“I’d really prefer it if we didn’t,” Xavier says. “Beauties like all of you shouldn’t have to worry and stress over such things~”

“You’re just saying that because you don’t want us to know what you did,” Jaida retorts.

“And you do?”

“Uh, well...what’s it matter anyway, huh? My crimes are totally justified! I don’t have to explain it to the rest of you!”

“That’s definitely not a suspicious thing to say at all,” Velma drolls.

“None of us should look at it!” Melody demands. “It’s just what Sgt. Al wants us to do! He’s trying to turn us against each other or...or make us start distrusting each other more and I don’t want that to happen!”

“Ah...Melody’s right!” Super Cat says quickly. “I won’t even look at the tab, all we’ll do is feed into the paranoia that gator is promoting. He’s already killed someone, we can’t forget who the real enemy is!”

“Well...I would rather spite that jackass more than anything...” Daniella muses.

“Oh, I know!” Axel says. “How about instead of reading that tab, we have a movie night? We can do it tomorrow, so I can get recommendations from everyone! It’ll be so much fun! I’ll even end the night with a big surprise!”

Great, more team-building exercises...still, people are typically meant to be quiet during movies, and I don’t watch them that often. I guess something like that wouldn’t hurt...

“I’ll leave a sheet on the cafeteria door for everyone to write down a movie on!” Melody chirps. “We can see which ones they have in stock and watch them after dinner tomorrow!”

“Is this going to be mandatory?” Neil asks. “I always work out immediately after dinner for an hour!”

“Ah...I guess it doesn’t have to be, but we’ll be doing it all night, so you can drop by whenever you’re free!”

“We go after our workout, right, Mister Neil?” Teddy asks.

“Mm...if you keep your grubby hands off the ice cream, then I’ll allow it!”

Teddy grins wide. “Deal!”

I sigh gently. So that’s it then. We’re just all going to ignore Sgt Al and act like nothing’s wrong. We’ll just blindly trust each other in not checking the new motive tab.

...idiots.

While the others were chattering, I make my way out of the cafeteria and open the tab. I have the right to know what the others are capable of and if I should be keeping my eyes on anyone in particular. And the name I saw was... _Xavier Harper._

I’ve been purposefully avoiding contact with Xavier as much as possible. He annoys me with his general existence and if he flirts with me, I’ll either punch him or vomit...or both. I could only imagine what he’s done to wind up here.

_Xavier Harper was arrested for one count of assault after hospitalizing a fan of his._

Hospitalized..? How severely did he hurt this person to do something like that? Imagining him having the will and ability to do something like that to a person...perhaps I should keep an eye on him. I do have to wonder if this is the entire story, though...

“...so...you’re looking at the tab..?” Someone says from behind me. I almost jolt, quickly looking over to see Shimo had followed me out.

“Are you going to tell the others?” I ask, putting the handbook back into my pocket.

Shimo shakes his head. “...no...it’s none of my business what you want to do...”

“Are you going to read your own, then? You were the first to suggest it.”

“...mm...I don’t think I will...Brooks-san made an excellent point before...I wouldn’t want to feed into the paranoia Al-san is attempting to sow...”

“Honestly, I knew she was a bit loud, but I hadn’t expected her to take charge so much. She didn’t strike me as the type.”

“...don’t underestimate the wills of others...some are far more powerful than they appear...” Shimo walks past me. “...farewell, Huang-san...until tonight...”

I sigh softly. At least it was just him that saw me and not the others. Well, I had time to kill until dinner, so I might as well see what I can learn about the others for today. They’re starting to leave the cafeteria now, so I have plenty of choices.

[FREE TIME - START!]

I had gone to the library with the intention to sit down and read that book Melody had given me. However, I noticed that Adam was currently in the room, seated at a table and drinking a cup of tea he had prepared while he read a book. He even had the teapot and a bowl of sugar cubes with him, too.

He turns his head when I walk in and offers a small nod in my direction. “Mistress Huang.”

“Adam.” With that out of the way, I take a seat nearby to begin reading my book. But I couldn’t help but notice the smell of the tea in the air now. While my preferred drink of choice was black coffee, a freshly brewed tea always sits right with me, too.

“If it’s not too much, could I have a cup of that tea?” I ask after a moment of silence. “I’m trying to...er, relax.”

“I brewed more than enough,” Adam assures me. “Get yourself a teacup from the kitchen and I’ll pour you some.”

I nod and set my book down, going to the kitchen to get a cup. Once I returned, I sat across from Adam as he poured me a cup of tea. I returned to my reading soon after, staying at the table in case I wanted another cup. I spend some time reading alongside Adam. The two of us grew a little closer today.

“Thank you for the tea,” I say after finishing my second cup. I was nearly halfway through my book now. I had to admit, it was nice to just sit down and read something for fun.

“It’s no problem at all, Mistress Huang,” Adam assures me, glancing up from his book. “I don’t mind small tasks for the less obnoxious of our group.”

Good to know I’m in that category, then. “I hope you don’t mind, but I have to ask now that I have the chance. How did you end up being a butler of all things? Many don’t aspire to a life of servitude for others.”

“That’s not an unreasonable question.” Adam closes his book and sets it down. “If you want an honest answer, it’s not particularly my dream in life to be a butler. I do it because...I owe it to someone who was there for me in the direst of times.”

“Is this a person you serve?” I closed my book as well, the two of us now focusing more on our tea as we spoke.

“...you could say so, in a sense. I don’t work for him as a butler, but I do this job because of him. You could say that’s why I’m so peculiar with who I’m willing to work for. I have to be sure I’m getting back what I put in.”

Adam’s being a little vague on the details, but I can’t exactly force him to open up to me on the specifics of this mysterious person he’s talking about. There is definitely a bit more to this story, whatever it is.

“I assume you’ve worked with some terrible people, then?” I ask. “It sounds like you’re speaking from experience, after all.”

Adam’s expression immediately sours at the mention of past employers. “If it’s all the same to you, Mistress Huang, I’m not particularly in the mood to relive those experiences.”

“I understand,” I assure, finishing my cup of tea. Adam tries to pour me more, but nothing comes out. He checks the pot, clicking his tongue as he looks inside.

“Empty,” the butler says, putting the lid back onto the pot. “It is about time I retired for now anyway. Some of the others have started to bug me around noon to make them lunch...”

“Right. I’ll see you at dinner tonight, then.” I stand up from my seat and grab my book. Adam collects the two cups, pot, and bowl of sugar. The two of us go our separate ways.

I was walking through the main lobby, contemplating going back to my bedroom for the time being when a massive figure came slamming down on the ground in front of me from above. I let out an unbecoming yelp and stumble back, falling onto my ass in the process. Already, I was hoping that I would die instead of face the fact that I made a fool of myself like that.

Looking up, I saw the massive form of Super Cat towering over me with a concerned look in his golden eyes. “Vanessa! I’m so sorry, I didn’t know it was you!” Super Cat quickly offers his hand for me to take, but I smack it away instead and get up on my own.

“What the hell is your problem?” I snap. I smooth out my skirt and adjust my blazer, but I didn’t stop glaring at the hero. He shrunk back under it.

“I-I was keeping an eye out here in the commons,” he explains nervously. “I thought it was a good vantage point to look out for anything dangerous. I can hear people coming and going and see everyone from up top with ease, so I...” he trails off, shrinking back a bit more. My gaze hadn’t softened.

“So where does nearly crushing me under your feet fit into the equation, exactly?”

“I-I wasn’t going to land on you, honest!” he assures quickly. “I was...honestly on the lookout for Sgt. Al, or maybe anyone that was controlling him from the sidelines...and when I heard you coming, I thought...”

It really was such a drastic change from his typical loud and confident personality, seeing him cower so pathetically under a steely gaze and a stern tone. I let out a sigh and shake my head. “Ridiculous...”

“I really am sorry...” Super Cat says gently. “...ah, how about I let you come upstairs and be on lookout with me for a bit? It could be good practice for the nighttime guarding we’ll all have to do!” It seemed like he was trying to psyche himself back up again. I normally wouldn’t want to spend a lot of time around Super Cat, but this honestly sounds like a rare opportunity where he’ll be quiet the entire time.

“...fine, we can do that,” I say. Super Cat perks up, clearly happy, and leads me to the second floor where our rooms were. I spend some time on lookout with Super Cat. The two of us grew a little closer today.

Super Cat had himself perched on the railing at the moment, overlooking the lobby below with careful eyes. I was just leaning against it, letting my mind wander over the material I had been studying the other day.

“Do you actually expect to see something?” I finally ask.

Super Cat perks up when I speak, glancing at me for only a moment before returning his gaze to the floor below. “Well, you never know! I want to be absolutely sure I don’t miss anything. At the very least, I can do my best to keep track of where everyone is and be readily available should something go awry.”

“I just don’t think anyone who may or may not be controlling Sgt. Al would come wandering out in broad daylight. Especially with those around.” I gesture to the camera that was fixated in the corner of the room, undoubtedly watching us at this very moment.

“Ah, well...I suppose you’re right...” Super Cat admits, his head drooping. It immediately perks up again. “However, my second point still stands! And I want to do anything I can to help us all. I refuse to let anyone succumb to this horrible game!”

“Do you have a plan to actually accomplish that? Aside from trying to convince us all to somehow get along.”

“Um...I’m still working on that, but I can assure you that I mean what I say. I’ll do everything I can to protect everyone here, even with my own life!”

His own life, huh? That’s absolutely begging to be killed by someone.

“Don’t you want to try and keep everyone else safe, too?” Super Cat spares me another glance as he asks that.

“...I can’t say it matters to me one way or another,” I admit. “It would be less of an inconvenience if no one dies, so I’m not particularly excited by the prospect.”

“That’s a really...cold way to look at it.” Judging from the tone, Super Cat did not like that answer.

“You’re the one that asked. You’re all strangers to me, all that really matters to me is my own safety. I’m not going to endanger anyone else if that’s what you’re worried about, but when it comes down to it, I’m looking out for myself. That’s all.”

“I see...” Super Cat’s head lowers a bit, clearly dejected. I think that was my cue to leave.

“Well, I’ll leave you to your...work, Super Cat. Until next time.” I stand up straight and walk off, leaving the hero alone in silence.

I had gone back to my room finally, intending to sit down and do some more studying. I had managed to get through a chapter in a trigonometry textbook when a knock at my door pulled my attention away. Mentally preparing myself for whatever benign conversation I was about to get wrapped up in, I go and answer the door.

“... _Sao băng_?” I ask, admittedly a bit surprised to see the rockstar at my door.

“I still have no idea what that means, but I’m guessing it’s a nickname for me?” Daniella asks, lazily twirling the end of one of her pigtails. “It’s cute though! Maybe I’ll think of a cute nickname for you.”

“Please don’t. I prefer Vanessa just fine.” And I didn’t want to hear whatever twist Daniella intended to give it.

“Well, whatever, not what I came by for anyway. I actually wanted to know if you wanted to hear one of my band’s singles! It’s our most popular song, so even someone like you might know the tune!”

There was a moment of silence between the two of us as I waited for Daniella’s smugness to eventually reveal the joke. There wasn’t one. “...that’s what you came by to bother me about? I mentioned before, but I’m not interested in the type of music you create. Besides, I’m studying.”

“Uh, duh! Why do you think I’m coming to bug you at all? Everyone loves our stuff, that’s why I want you to give it a chance. You can’t really tell me you’re studying is more fun, anyway. I know you’re the Ultimate Student and all, but you don’t have to be a stick in the mud.”

“...you’re not going to leave me alone until I say yes, are you?” I ask after another moment of silence.

“Oh, hey, you are smart!’ Daniella grins wide. The sarcasm in her voice was not lost on me.

I sigh and relent, letting Daniella guide me to her bedroom so she could begin playing a CD she had on a large speaker box on her table. I spend some time listening to loud noise with Daniella. The two of us grew a little closer together.

The paraphernalia decorating the room was far more interesting to me than the sound coming from the speakers. Posters for concerts plastered the walls haphazardly. A bookshelf sat covered in awards of all kinds and a stack of CDs, likely all songs produced by Daniella’s band. She had a bass propped against it, as well as a microphone that sat in its stand and two amps. The desk her stereo sat on had a large mirror affixed to it, likely for the use of all the makeup sitting on said desk.

I honestly hadn’t noticed the noise stopped until Daniella’s natural voice cut through the air. “So, whaddya think? No one can resist my exceptional vocals, after all~”

I look back at the bandleader, who was wearing an expectant grin on her face. Most people probably would say yes, or at least be gentle about it if they said no. Unfortunately for Daniella, I am not most people, and I hate her guts.

“Is there something I’m supposed to enjoy about the noises that came from the stereo?” I held my typical cold gaze and that, combined with my words, seemed to take Daniella back.

“Um...excuse me? I think you were meant to say ‘Wow, Daniella, that was so good! Thank you so much for letting me listen to it and doing such a nice thing for me’.” She did a poor job to imitate my voice thanks to hers being a much higher pitch than my own...or it was on purpose, which I wouldn’t put past her.

“Doing a nice thing would have been respecting my tastes in music instead of forcing me to listen to one of your CDs specifically to make me a fan of your band.”

Daniella blinks, a blank gaze on her face. “...I don’t follow.” There wasn’t a hint of irony to her voice and it only made my frown deepen.

“I know you don’t,” I sigh.

“Look, I think you’re just not giving my music the chance it deserves. I have all kinds of songs, why don’t we just fit one that suits you?”

I think she’s failing to understand that I don’t care for the entirety of the genre, not just that particular song. “...wait, don’t you mean your band’s songs?”

“Hm? What?” Daniella had already gotten up from her bed and gone over to her bookshelf to start going through her CDs.

“They’re not _your_ songs, they’re your band’s songs. You all worked together to make it, correct?”

“ _Oh_ .” Daniella had a sour expression on her face with the way her nose crinkled. “You’re one of _those_ people. Thinking I don’t have the right to call them my songs even though I put in all the damn work. You know, I only write them, sing them, and play lead bass and those stupid, greedy _bitches_ are lucky they get the _scraps_ I throw them when I could replace them with the _snap of my fingers_ for literally anyone else I want, so maybe they should stop whining and complaining when I take the credit I _DESERVE_ BECAUSE NO ONE EVEN KNOWS THEIR FUCKING NAMES ANYWAY BECAUSE I’M THE ONLY ONE THAT MATTERS AND I COULD GO SOLO WHENEVER I WANT AND THEY’D BE **_NOTHING WITHOUT ME!_ **”

Daniella’s voice only rose in volume as she dove into her ramblings, really putting to the test the powers of the Ultimate Band Leader’s vocals. I only wish I wasn’t the one who had to bear witness to it.

“...I think I’ll see myself out.” I stand up from the bed and make my way to the door.

“Yeah, maybe you should,” Daniella sneers. “Since clearly, all you want to do is side with those greedy little bitches AND ALL THEIR **_FUCKING_ **\--”

I shut the door before Daniella could finish and walked off without looking back.

It was getting close to dinner time and I could already smell the cooking food wafting through the air. I walked up to the cafeteria doors and noticed, alongside the lists, was a list for movie recommendations. Several titles had already been scrawled onto the paper. Some I recognized, others I did not. The only titles I could earnestly offer up were the names of documentaries that the others would likely find dry and boring. There was no use in wasting my time with it, so I step into the room instead.

Alejandria was setting out the last of the food. It was far different than what Javier had prepared for breakfast. The meal didn’t seem as glamorous like Javier’s, but there was a certain homey quality to them. It seems like, if I’m not mistaken, Alejandria seemed to fix a large serving of pupusas with a variety of toppings for each person to choose from. I take a tray, pick out a couple of tortillas and top them as I please, then sit down on my own to begin eating.

I was quiet as I ate, mulling over a few things from today. For one, there was that scar on my shoulder. I still didn’t want to bring it up with the others until I had a reasonable assumption it was something someone else had. I still couldn’t think of any reason why it was there, no matter how much I racked my brain, which leads me to believe that...I must have forgotten how it happened. And that answer made my blood run cold.

There was also the second point of contention from what I picked up on today. Sgt. Al, whether he meant to or not, _heavily_ implied the existence of a previous killing game. The only problem is that I’ve never heard of such a thing happening, and I suspect such an event would make international news, especially if it involved other Ultimate students. We could try pressing him for details, but it’s hard to say how much he’d be willing to admit. Still, it can’t hurt.

There’s also the matter of the motive. Someone here must have done something deserving of being used against them. No one’s been reacting in any odd ways, of course. No sudden paranoia or aggression. So, either they haven’t read over the crimes they were given or they aren’t serious enough to warrant a negative reaction. There’s a lot of planning to this entire killing game, though. I have no doubt a motive would be presented to us if it wouldn’t borrow its way into _someone’s_ mind.

The room was quiet, other than the small conversations cropping up from those that decided to sit together. There were certainly subjects to talk about, but whether people were trying to avoid it or wait for someone else to bring it up, I wasn’t sure. I suppose the only way to get things moving the way I want is to speak up first.

“Everyone, I’d like to talk about something,” I say, speaking loud and clearly as if I were about to give a presentation. Everyone’s voices die out as they look my way.

“What’s up, dude?” Jaida asks. “I’m kinda busy right now.” She was sitting across from Melody, playing one of her silly card games with the librarian. I could feel my lips twitch as I held back the scowl attempting to form on my face from the mere idea that game held any real importance.

“I want to talk about something said during breakfast by Sgt. Al. I think it’s important to consider.”

“If that’s about the motive, I thought we had already come to a consensus!” Neil barks from his seat with Teddy.

“I hope everyone kept their promise not to look at the crimes they got...” Melody says softly.

“It’s not that,” I assure. “It’s actually something he said right before revealing it that struck my interest. Something I hope someone else caught on to.”

“You happen to be talking about what Sgt. Al said about a ‘last time’ in terms of the motive, yes, Mistress Huang?” Adam asks.

“That’s exactly it,” I confirm. “I’m not sure if it was a slip of the tongue or not, but he told us something important--motives have been used before in the context of a killing game.”

“Hm...perhaps that is where his vicious aura comes from,” Madame Ruby muses. “If there have been past victims involved in such machinations, then it certainly paints things into a new light.”

“Well, hold on a second,” Xavier butts in with a soft frown. “I’m online a lot because of my talent and I think I’d have noticed if something as serious as this has happened before. It’d be all over the news.”

Velma hums to herself, eyes closed. She nods slowly. “Hm...I have to agree. I like to keep up with current events and I’ve never heard of such a thing. The implication that a gaggle of students, let alone Ultimates, suddenly going missing seems rather far fetched.”

“Maybe they had some kind of cover-up?” Axel suggests. “I’ve read a lot on conspiracy theories, you know! There are all kinds of insane things being covered up by organizations and governments to keep it out of the sights of normal people like us!”

“The only insane thing around here is you,” Daniella snaps in return. Axel flinches like a wounded puppy and proceeds to whine like one, too.

“But he has a point,” Alejandria says. “The TYCP is a powerful, worldwide institution. I’d wager they’re stronger than any single governing nation. Covering up a situation such as this...it really would be child’s play for them. Who knows what tale they could possibly spin to do such a thing.”

“So we’re back to thinking the TYCP is responsible for this?” Adam asks. “It could potentially be some outside force, after all.”

“...Al-san...” Frost calls out as loudly as he could muster. “...are you there..? I happen to have a question for you...”

“Like that’s gonna work,” Jaida scoffs.

“What do you need?” Sgt. Al says, standing next to the card collector, making her shriek and jump out of her seat.

“Where did you come from?!” she yelps, diving behind Alejandria to hide from the gator.

“...Al-san, is it true that another killing game has taken place prior to this one..?” Shimo asks directly.

“Hm..?” The gator rubs his chin and tilts his head. “Now where did you get a crazy idea like that one in your head?”

“You, actually,” Carrie says, not looking up from her tablet. “You implied that there was a game before ours when you were introducing the motive.”

“Well, even if there is, I don’t see what it has to do with any of YOU!” the gator retorts. “I’ve never run another killing game before meeting you ungrateful brats!”

“...but...that’s not what we asked,” Melody says softly. “We didn’t ask if you ran a killing game before. We asked if there has been one before.”

“Urk!” Sgt. Al was taken aback by that comment. “Well...it ain’t any of your business, maggots! All that matters is you get to the killing already! I gave you a perfectly good motive, so get to it!”

With an annoyed ‘harumph!’, the gator marches his way out of sight, leaving us with only a vague nonanswer.

“We’re not likely to get much out of him,” Xavier says with a sigh. “But...he never did directly answer the question one way or another, did he? If there wasn’t another killing game, it seems weird that he wouldn’t just say that.”

“Even if there was another game, he was right about one thing. That doesn’t help us at all!” Javier points out. “We’re still just as trapped here as we were before!”

“But learning information about a past game could give us some insight to our own,” Velma explains. “I suspect the basic construction of the games wouldn’t be too dissimilar, so if we could figure out any details about this other game, it could prove useful.”

“Maybe that’s why he just won’t tell us,” I say. “If we know there’s another game and start pressing for details, we’ll have a potential way to combat him. It’s just as we suspected--he won’t be giving up information like that so lightly.”

“So we’re just stuck at square one?” Daniella demands. “That’s bullshit! We’ve been stuck in this place forever, aren’t we gonna do something about it?!”

“I thought it only three days since beginning,” Teddy says.

“If you have a plan the rest of us aren’t aware of, I’d love to hear it,” Adam says. “We saw what Sgt. Al did to Master Rascal. It’s a clear threat to the rest of us to stay in line. Not to mention, we’re in the middle of the ocean with no transportation off of the island.”

“Well, what about our friends and family?” Melody asks. “Surely they must be wanting to hear from us already!”

“I do still wonder where all the staff must be...” Velma muses to herself. “Something must have warded them away.”

“Uh, then why don’t you all get off of your asses and start figuring this stuff out?!” Daniella says. “All these stupid meals aren’t getting us out of here any faster!”

“Why don’t _you_ do something, then, since you’re so insistent on it?” I shoot back. “In case you haven’t noticed, the amount of space to work with is small and pissing off the gator doesn’t sound like a smart plan.”

“Oh, you wanna go, bitch?” Daniella gets up from her seat. “Some snooty, up her own ass _loser_ wants to try talking back to _me_? At least my talent means something, you’re just some lapdog for a bunch of teachers who's gonna flounder and fail the second she has to enter the real world. I have a future, yours ends the second you graduate and lose your bullshit talent!”

“Daniella, sit down!” Neil barks. “No one wants to see you make a fool of yourself again!”

“I kind of want to see that,” Carrie comments.

“No, fuck you guys! All of you have been ganging up on me since day one and I’m sick of it!” the rockstar retorts.

“No, let her speak,” I say calmly. “It’s fine. She has an issue with the legitimacy of my talent, that’s all. It’s only natural, coming from her. After all, all she has in the future is utter irrelevancy. Once she starts to age, she’ll be replaced with a new up-and-coming band of fresh-faced teenagers rocking the world. By the time she’s in her twenties, she’ll be a washed-up has-been feeling her age slip between her fingers. She’ll claw for attention, likely making a bigger fool of herself given that ugly personality she has, until she has her midlife crisis by the time she’s thirty and die from an overdose trying to chase the high she used to get off of the fans that dumped her the moment something new and shiny was dangled in front of them. Meanwhile, I’ll be able to use what I’ve learned in school to apply to any college I want, for any career choice I want and have a long and fulfilling life. I can see why she might have an issue with all of that.”

“Y-You...” Daniella’s face was beet red and I could see the murder in her eyes. “Well...I...y-you..!” Daniella grabs her tray and hurls it at me. It misses, but she didn’t even see, having turned and stormed out of the room.

“That was little mean, Miss Vanessa...” Teddy says softly, breaking the silence that had formed in the room.

“If she didn’t want to hear what I thought of her, she shouldn’t have said what she thought of me,” I state matter-of-factly.

“You still could have gone a bit easier on her,” Madame Ruby says. “I sense that she has a great weight sitting on her shoulders that does not grow lighter being here.”

“We’re supposed to be getting along and trying to help each other. Maybe you should go apologize to her?” Melody suggests tentatively.

There were soft mumbles of agreement from some of the others. Did all of them forget the way she treated Axel just last night? I don’t see how I’m the bad guy for deciding to stand up to her for once. Well, I don’t particularly care how the others feel about me.

I stand up from my seat. “I’m going to retire to my room early tonight. I have a second shift for the guard duty, so I’d like to get some sleep. Don’t disturb me, please.” I put my tray in the kitchen and walk out of the cafeteria, going back to my bedroom for the time being to get some sleep.

I suppose, thankfully, sleep came relatively easy for me. Today was exhausting enough with all that happened, so despite the questions and thought still swirling through my mind, I was sleeping within the hour.

_Ding-Dong~! Ding-Dong~!_

I awoke to what I assumed was the morning announcement beginning to play, but I noticed that the screen in my room was still blank. I rub the sleep from my eyes and sit up. No, that didn’t sound right...this noise was softer. Was it...a doorbell?

_Ding-Dong~! Ding-Dong~!_

...yeah, that was a doorbell. I hadn’t noticed that our rooms came with one. That was annoying. I sigh softly and get out of bed. I suppose, then, that I’m being summoned for tonight’s guard duty. I recall that I was working with Madame Ruby tonight. Hopefully, she doesn’t bother me too much.

I walk over to the door quickly, opening it before the belly could ring again. The medium was standing on the other side, dressed lazily in her robe like usual with a long grin on her face. “Ah, Huang-san, you are here. Good.”

“Mm. Do you mind giving me about fifteen minutes? I’d like to get myself ready for tonight.”

“Ah, yes, please, do whatever it is you need.” Madame Ruby giggles softly, as if I’d told her a joke, hiding her mouth with her sleeve. “I’ll wait right here.”

Creep. I shut the door again, making sure to take a quick shower this time. I did linger for a few moments to look at that scar again. It was still there and still a mystery. It didn’t hurt, though. How old was it..? What a ridiculous question, it couldn’t possibly be older than a few days...and yet...

Pushing it from my mind, I get myself ready for the day...er, night, and go out to join Madame Ruby. She was still standing in front of my door, exactly where I left her. _Creep_.

I glance around the hall. “I’m assuming the other shift went to bed already?”

“Yes, Young-san and Brooks-san have already retired to their rooms. It will just be us until morning, it seems.”

I can’t say I was very excited about that. As long as she doesn’t try to sell me anything, though...

“I’m pleased we can have this time alone, though. I wanted to discuss that dreadful aura surrounding you. I have many ways to help alleviate it, you know.”

Aaaand there it is. Great.

“I’m perfectly comfortable with my aura,” I reply. “I’ll be a bit more forward with you, since you’re starting to pedal to me now--I don’t believe in any of the paranormal things you do, and I have no interest in buying any products you want to sell to me based on the premise. If you try again, I will be less polite about it.”

“I see.” Madame Ruby hums softly, closing her eyes. “...well, I cannot help those who do not want it, but please try to consider it, will you?”

I don’t respond, more than comfortable with letting the conversation simply end there and walk past her. I settle myself in the corner of a room and stand there, arms crossed. It occurs to me this might be a very long, boring handful of hours.

“Huang-san?” Madame Ruby says after several moments of silence.

“...yes?” I don’t want to be turned into another selling opportunity, but I was already needing something to do besides silently stare off into space.

“I wanted to ask...did you, by chance, read the motive that we were given?”

I look in the medium’s direction again. She was simply standing there, smiling. Her expression was unreadable. I didn’t like that “...did you?”

“Mm,” she hums softly with a small nod. “I was asking since if you had, I was willing to...trade information with you~”

“Is that so?” She had my interest now. I stand up a little straighter. “Alright...but I want to hear yours first.”

“How can I be sure you’ll share your information with me if I do, hm? I don’t much care for trades that are set up for me to fail. I hope you can understand that.”

I could say the same to her, but I don’t feel like going in circles about this issue. “My motive is about Xavier. You can consider that your insurance.”

Madame Ruby hums again, silent for several moments. “...alright. The information in my grasp at the moment pertains to someone of interest as of late--Hawthorne-san, that is.”

“Is that so..? Well, then, what is it she’s done?” She’s explosive and prone to violence, given her last two outbursts. She strikes me as the type to hold deep grudges, as well. I wonder what she’s done...

Madame Ruby takes out her handbook and turns it on, tapping the screen a few times before reading it off. “Daniella Hawthorne was arrested after several key witnesses were able to trace back the suicide of three of her interns back to her, marking her as the cause for each one.”


	7. Chapter 1: No Crimes Are Created Equal - Daily Life Part IV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vanessa learns a near little fact about someone at night, and then there's a fun party where everyone watches movies! Oh yeah, and someone **might be dead** , too.
> 
> Randomized FTEs: Super Cat, Velma, Carrie

My eyebrows go up as the medium finishes reading. That’s certainly a lot more information I was given. On the other hand, it’s rather hard to justify actions like that in any way. Then...is the vagueness of my motive evidence that there’s more to the story..? It wouldn’t surprise me that information meant to encourage us to murder is being manipulated in a very specific way.

“That’s...a very serious conviction,” I say after a moment.

“Indeed. It does seem to explain some of her behavior, however, does it not? I can’t imagine what being around a person like her would do to one’s mental health when forced to be in her presence at all times.”

Stuck with her like the rest of us are now...she’s certainly unpleasant to a horrific degree. She either does a good job at hiding it from her fanbase, or they simply don’t care. I’m not sure which is the worse outcome.

“My motive doesn’t happen to go into such great detail.” I pull out my own handbook. “Xavier Harper was arrested for one count of assault after hospitalizing a fan of his,” I read aloud.

“...is that all?” Madame Ruby asks me after a moment. She puts her sleeve over a knowing grin that crept along her face. “Ah...now I see.”

“Did you pick up on it, too?”

“You’re referring to the vagueness of the statement, correct? If so, then yes, I did happen to notice that. My, I wonder what that horrid creature is trying to obscure about Xavier’s crimes...”

“...what about you?” I ask after a few moments of silence.

Madame Ruby perks up, looking me in the eyes now. “Hm? What about me?”

“Your crime, I mean. What did you do to end up here? You already know mine.”

“Do I, though?” she counters with a knowing smile. “You could have told me absolutely anything. Without the proper proof, well...I’d merely have to take it at face value. In reality, you could have been convicted for almost anything, Huang-san. And we both know I’m not in possession of your crime, so it could be in anyone’s hands. You might even be...” Madame Ruby trails off, her grin growing. She obscures it with her sleeve and a soft giggle.

While I don’t appreciate being called a liar, I do see where she’s coming from. It would be incredibly easy for any one of us to claim anything like the crime we committed when we came here. And if someone were lying about it, then this motive...

“What do you think I might be?” I finally ask.

“Mm? Oh, no, it’s nothing,” Madame Ruby assures. “This atmosphere is simply dreadful, isn’t it? Would you mind if I fetch some sage from my room to burn?”

“Be my guest.” As long as she kept it away from me, I didn’t really care that much. Maybe I’ll get something from my room to study after she comes back.

The rest of the night goes on uneventfully. Madame Ruby and I occasionally made small talk from there, but those conversations never went anywhere for very long.

It wasn’t until about 6 in the morning that the first handful of people began to emerge from their rooms, staring with Neil.

“Ah, good morning, Corrin-san,” Madame Ruby greets. “What are you doing up so early?”

“I wake up at 6 on the dot every day!” Neil barks. “Never a second longer, either! It’s the only way to keep a full day ahead of you!” He walks over to Teddy’s room, ringing the doorbell several times in a row.

“What are you doing?” I ask. “He’s probably still asleep.”

“Well, he shouldn’t be! We have a morning routine to do and he does not get to sleep in for it!”

“Ah...Young-san was one of the people working the first night shift,” Madame Ruby points out. “You may want to let him sleep more. He would have only gotten three and a half hours of sleep by now.”

“He should have thought about that sooner, then! He knew our plans ahead of time, so if he didn’t sleep at an alternate time for his shift, that’s his own fault!”

Neil returns to ringing the doorbell, but it seems like Teddy was a heavier sleeper than that. And so, the banging on the door begins. That’s when I began to lose my patience.

I make my way over to Neil. Hopefully, I can put an end to this quickly. “Don’t you think he should be getting more rest? It’s not very healthy to wake up on so little sleep.”

Neil’s knocking pauses. “Well, those are just the consequences of his actions! He should learn to deal with that! As his personal trainer, I’m doing what’s best for the best results and he needs to learn discipline!”

“When did you say Teddy hired you again?”

“As soon as he heard my talent, actually. He immediately asked me to be his personal trainer for our time here and I agreed to it! Working for the Ultimate Strongman seemed like an excellent test of my skills!”

That...does sound like something Teddy would do. I wonder if he regrets it. “And you had him sign a contract for this? I can’t imagine you carry them around on you.”

“It was a verbal agreement,” Neil admits. “But we had several witnesses to his consent! This is still legally binding!”

“That is true,” Madame Ruby agrees. “I was there to witness their agreement of Corrin-san’s terms. In a court of law, it would hold up just as well as a written contract.”

Great. “If Teddy isn’t getting up now, it’s likely we won’t see him until he’s ready to wake up. You’ll just have to go on without him and wait.”

Neil grumbles softly and crosses his arms. “He’s going to be doing double the work because of this...proper discipline is just as important as his physical health! I can see I have a lot of work left to do.” The personal trainer finally walks off, going in the direction of the auditorium, likely where he’s been exercising.

It wasn’t long after that that another person exited their room. This time, it was Adam, looking as professional as always.

“Ah, Mistress Huang and Madame Ruby. Greetings.” He bows to both of us. “I was just on my way to begin preparing breakfast. Do the two of you have any suggestions you’d like to make?”

I mull over the question for a moment. “...buttermilk pancakes.”

“Really?” Madame Ruby asks. “I wouldn’t have struck you as the type, Huang-san.”

“My father likes to make them for breakfast every Sunday. It’s...a family tradition of his, I suppose. He wakes Mother and I up and we cook them together. Admittedly, I’ve had a bit of craving for home cooking.”

“I was curious about that,” Adam says. “Mistress Huang, you’re Vietnamese, is that correct?”

I nod. “Yes, that’s right. I’m from Huế.”

“Would one of your parents happen to be American, or perhaps European? It simply struck me, given your more English name.”

I click my tongue. “Yes, my father is from America. He moved to Vietnam for work before meeting Mother. She kept the last name, but he was allowed to name me.”

“It sounds like you have quite the interesting home life,” Madame Ruby says. “Ah, I’m sure you miss your parents terribly then.”

“I’ll live,” I state simply. “Furthermore, are you going to request anything, Madame Ruby?”

“Hm? Oh, yes.” The medium hums softly to herself and closes her eyes. “...I hear that tamagoyaki would be a splendid dish today, if you wouldn’t mind, Monroe-san.”

“Hear from who?”

Madame Ruby doesn’t answer me, simply giggling into her sleeve. I decided I wasn’t that curious after all.

“Alright then. I’ll make some sausage and bacon to go with it, then. Perhaps some toast, too...” Adam walks off to the cafeteria, mumbling breakfast ideas to himself. Even if he didn’t consider us ‘worthy’ of his services, he at least seemed willing to provide the bare minimum. I did look forward to having more of his food.

No one else emerges from their room until much closer to the morning announcement, a small handful of people waking up--or perhaps, even, not sleeping at all--and leaving their rooms to go to the cafeteria. Eventually, Madame Ruby and I are alerted by the morning announcement.

“UP AND ATTAM, MAGGOTS! It’s 7 am, so GET UP and GET TO IT! You have a whole life sentence to live out!” Sgt. Al says over the video.

“I wish his voice was at least a little less grating...” I murmur to myself.

“I’m sure Monroe-san has finished most of his cooking, if you’d like to go to the cafeteria,” Madame Ruby says, already making her way to the stairs.

Well, I had already gotten myself ready for the day when this shift started, and I was hungry. I follow the medium, going to the cafeteria with her. Sure enough, Adam had already laid out several food options--including what Madame Ruby and I had requested for breakfast.

I take a couple of pancakes and douse them in syrup and butter. Father would do it so often for me when I was younger that I couldn’t eat them any other way now. I think he did that on purpose. Once I had my food, I sat down alone at a table to begin eating. It was only a matter of time before the others began to trickle into the room to get their breakfast and eat. Even Teddy and Melody arrived eventually, although both of them looked tired still.

Daniella showed up as well, but she was lingering in the back of the room now, away from the rest of the group. She still looked angry. My thoughts go back to my conversation with Madame Ruby last night. Daniella seemed fairly serious when she insisted she didn’t belong here. I don’t see why she’d put on an act like that, so was she just in denial? Or did she think she was justified in actions like that? I’d ask her if I thought it wouldn’t cause more issues in the process. She’s clearly unstable.

“Since no one else is mentioning it, I’ll do so,” Carrie says from her seat, moving something around on the screen of her tablet. “I’ve been keeping an eye on Sgt. Al every time he shows up, and I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s likely someone is controlling him at the moment.”

“Why do you think that?” Javier asks. “It would make much more sense if he was fully functioning!”

“Have you heard of AI and robotics being as highly advanced and capable as him?” Carrie counters. “I keep up in the tech industry, and unless I somehow missed a decade’s worth of advancements, Sgt. Al shouldn’t exist the way he does now. He’s fully functioning, responds to us in real-time, and has his own personality and thought patterns. It would make more sense if someone was using him more as a puppet.”

“Oh, I see what you’re saying!” Melody chirps. “If someone has to be in control of Sgt. Al, then that means none of us are responsible for this!”

“...that’s not exactly where I was going with it, but that conclusion works just as well. None of us seemed to be controlling him in such a way, especially given that we’re all in the same room together when he does make his appearances.”

“I believe you’re discounting the power of Ultimates, Mistress Mathers,” Adam warns. “I’m sure there are many technologically gifted Ultimates that could easily construct something like Sgt. Al, if not better. If the TYCP is truly at the heart of this, they would have no issues using the talents of Ultimate students. And if it’s not? Well, whoever has managed to pull this off would still have to be incredibly powerful.”

“Then what are we left with?” Daniella mutters bitterly from the back of the cafeteria. “It seems like every time one of you jokers comes up with an idea, someone else finds a way to just poke a buncha holes in it. We’re not going to get anywhere if we just keep talking in circles all the time, speculating over crap we can’t actually prove.”

“Then what do you suggest we do about it?” Velma sighs.

“Ask Melody. _She’s_ the one in charge now, after all.”

All eyes turn to Melody, the librarian looking unprepared for the sudden attention. “O-Oh! Um, well...maybe...I think it’s still too early to try and figure out every mystery of this place, which is why I think we still need to try and come together. Everyone’s still...fractured and not trusting anyone yet. We’re not going to be getting anywhere like that. Which is why I hope everyone is preparing to come to the movie night in the auditorium right after dinner! It’ll be a great way to spend more time together and bond, and Axel’s already picked out a few movies we can watch based on everyone’s recommendations! He even told me he’ll have a special surprise for us at the end!”

“Oh, will you have snacks?” Teddy asks, finally perking up and looking more alert than he has all morning.

“If there are, we’re not letting Axel make them, are we?” Xavier adds. “No offense to him, of course, but the only ‘hotness’ I can handle is from all of your beautiful faces~”

“Oh, I was hoping Vanessa could handle it since she’s making dinner tonight!” Melody says. She turns to look at me with a smile. “If that’s alright with you?”

Well, if she’s just going to drop it on me like that in front of everybody, it doesn’t seem like I have many choices in the matter. It would be embarrassing to admit I could have trouble over cooking of all things. “...I can figure something out,” I say tentatively. It probably won’t be anything spectacular.

“Great! Then it’s settled! As soon as everyone is done with dinner, you can go to the auditorium, and we’ll start playing the movies as soon as everyone’s there!”

With everything settled and breakfast over, we all go our separate ways for the time being. I had to figure out what it was I wanted to attempt making for dinner. I can always do that while spending some time with the others, of course.

[FREE TIME - START!]

I was thankful that, when entering the garden, I was able to see Super Cat was just marching around rather than waiting somewhere that he could jump me. I am still not ready to forgive him for that.

I notice that I had his attention as soon as I stepped through the door. He offers me a wave, his eyes shining with a smile. “Vanessa, greetings!”

“I can hear you just fine. No need to shout.” I sigh and make my way over to him. Let’s just get this over with, it’ll be easier to just talk to him a little. I was still curious about a few things.

The hero shrinks back a little, wilting in place. “Ah...I apologize...” he says, a bit softer than his usual boom.

“Mm.” I know he was just going to get loud all over again. “Not on watch out today?”

Super Cat perks right back up. “Ah, I thought I would try patrolling instead! I realize that it was better to try keeping an eye on all the rooms I can than sitting in one. It’ll help me familiarize myself with the building and how everything is set up as well, in case anything is disturbed!”

That...actually wasn’t an awful idea. “Hm...can I join you then? It wouldn’t hurt to do the same.”

“Of course!” Super Cat chirps. “I just started, so we can do a sweep together!”

“Right. Just try to keep it down, _Mèo con_.” I spend some time walking around the prison on patrol with Super Cat. The two of us grew a little closer today.

We wound up back in the garden after our investigation. We didn’t really turn up with any new information, but I at least got the chance to familiarize myself further with the facility. Our space was incredibly limited, I’ve noticed, but all of those other hallways are still locked...

Super Cat had his arms crossed and was humming softly, deep in thought. At least, I presume so, since his eyes were shut. It was surprisingly easy to get a read on him despite that mask he wore. In fact...

“Super Cat, I have to ask. Why are you dressed like that? What’s the point?”

Super Cat perks up as soon as I spoke, opening his eyes to look in my direction. “Well, I’m the Ultimate Superhero! Super Cat is just my superhero persona, so I have to make sure I look the part!”

“I understand that much. What I’m asking is, why are you dressed like that _right now_? I’ve never seen you without your entire outfit on. I don’t even see you take off that mask during meal times. And we don’t know your real name, either. Just this ‘persona’.”

“Ah...” Super Cat’s vigor deflates a bit. “Well...that’s because this is simply the easiest way for me to exist here. At least, that’s how I saw it before. But now I’m on the job as well, so it’s doubly important.”

“The easiest way to exist..? What do you mean by that?” I frown and cross my arms. “What could possibly happen to you if you weren’t ‘Super Cat’ at the moment?”

“Because then you’d know my secret identity! I have to keep that protected for the safety of myself and my family, should anyone I’ve ever angered attempt to seek me out! I didn’t want to run any risks here. And...besides that, I wouldn’t be able to admit to being the Ultimate Superhero outside of my costume. It defeats the purpose.”

As ridiculous as I still found all of this, his logic was at least sound. A compromised identity when making as many enemies as a justice-seeking superhero could prove fatal in numerous ways. Hiring a professional assassin likely wouldn’t be an issue for many of the people who would develop disdain for him. “Then I suppose we won’t be seeing under that mask any time soon?”

Super Cat shakes his head. “I apologize, but no. I’d...honestly be really uncomfortable with that on principle, so please don’t go spreading the idea around.”

“That’s fine. I don’t have any use in that, anyway.” Not so much because I’m not curious about his ‘identity’, but more so that the only person around that could potentially force him to remove the mask is Teddy, who would never agree to such a thing. “I’ll be leaving now, I think I’ve done everything I’d need to.”

“Ah, alright then! Come visit me any time, Vanessa! We can search together again, you have an incredibly keen eye!”

I nod and leave the garden to go elsewhere.

When I entered the cafeteria with the intent to make myself something small for lunch, I saw Velma was there. She was hunched over her notepad, scribbling down ideas into it. A mug filled with warm tea sat nearby, as well as a slice of plain toast. Her black hair mostly obscured her face. I don’t think she even saw me.

Wasn’t that where she was sitting when we all met this morning? “...Velma, have you even left since breakfast?”

The scribbling stops and a hit of pale blue glimpses out at me from behind the hair. “...no.” She looks back down at her notepad and continues writing.

Is this how she gets into a writing mood? It’s a good thing Melody wasn’t her, she’d probably mistake the poet for a ghost. I could already picture the librarian convincing Madame Ruby to attempt exercising Velma...

I decide to get myself the light lunch I wanted and take a seat. The only other sound in the air was Velma’s scribbling. I spend some time eating lunch with Velma in the vicinity. The two of us grew a little closer today.

The scribbling finally stops, which causes me to glance over in Velma’s direction. She set her pen and pad down with shaky hands and grabs her mug instead, beginning to sip at her tea.

“Are you feeling alright?” I ask. “Are you sure you should be out of bed right--”

“Yes,” came a quick response, slithering response. “...yes, I’m fine...” Velma’s voice was softer that time, but I could tell she wasn’t fine. She was hunched over her tea, her body shivering lightly. Her grip was tight and her breath was coming out almost raggedly, constantly disturbing the steam from her drink.

I recall she told me before how bored she gets while in bed. She probably doesn’t do that willingly, and there’s no longer anyone around here to tell her what to do. Still, she doesn’t look well...

“ _Ngày mưa_ , if you need to be taken to bed, I’ll help you. I’d rather not have you collapsing and being held responsible for it. Given our situation, I’m sure you can understand the cause for concern.”

A soft, bitter laugh escapes the poet and she straights up more. She brushes some of her hair from her face. Her strained smile doesn’t erase the pain in her eyes. “I see...that’s how it is. I can’t say I’m surprised, Vanessa...”

“What do you mean?” Something about her tone was...rubbing me the wrong way. That laugh...was it directed at me?

“...it’s nothing.” Velma’s smile vanishes back to her normal grimace and she brings her mug up for another drink. “I know my own limits and will make my way back to my room when I am good and ready. I was just...suddenly struck with inspiration, and I wanted to write my thoughts down before they escaped me. They are fleeting, after all, and I would just be out of a job if I let even one wiggle its way past my fingers.”

“Your inspiration is boredom, isn’t it? I suppose there is a bit of monotony to our daily lives now but is this enough to warrant boredom?”

“...boredom is merely a part of it,” Velma corrects me. She points a bony finger my way. “This...entrapment. An eternal damnation of solitude, where we are left only within brick walls and steel bars...a hell of our own making, a sentence of death, repentance for our _sins_ . Every day is a new waking nightmare of the same walls, same rooms, same faces--over and over and over again. Soon enough, we’ll be faced with the same conversations, the same foods, the same sights and smells and sounds until there is nothing to stimulate, nothing to excite, nothing nothing _nothing_. There will only be one escape; the cold grasp of death, becoming akin to the warm touch of a mother, cradling us all against her bosom as we sob just as if we were born again. That day inches ever closer, each one a further mockery of life itself, until we forget what life ever was.”

I was quiet as Velma spoke. Her voice stung, growing harsher and colder as she rambled on. A swirl of emotion filled my stomach and I had to bite my tongue while attempting to keep the feels from reaching my face. My lips twitch.

“...ah.” A small gasp escapes Velma. “That was a new poem I was attempting...I apologize if I got off track. I tend to recite my own poetry, as I’ve made a habit of posting recordings online. Practice helps.”

“...the second stanza could use some work.” The critique was meaningless. I just needed to say something before I made my tongue bleed. I had to clear my throat after.

“Hm...noted.” Velma returns to her writing. She didn’t answer my question. At the moment, I didn’t want her to. I put my dishes in the sink and leave.

I was walking to the library, intending to spend some time reading, when I noticed that the door of the auditorium was left open and someone was moving around inside and making noise. Against my better judgment, I venture in to look around.

The door for the control room of the stage was open and through the window, I could see that Carrie had situated herself. She had more life and excitement in her eyes than I had ever thought possible for her as she looked over the control schemes for the stage.

I approach and lean in the doorway. “So, you made time in your schedule for tinkering?”

Carrie’s expression disintegrates before my eyes to her usual unenthused boredom. Her eyes lock with mine and I could tell she was trying to wordlessly blame me for it. “Yes, I do,” she states blandly. “I do schedule my free time, after all.”

I glance at the board she was messing with. I really had no idea what most of it was for, but there were a lot of buttons and switches and levers. Her tablet was sat on a chair alongside a portable metal toolbox she had open, filled with different tools that looked useful for electrical work.

“Do you think there’s anything useful about the controls here?” I ask. “Maybe something that could be useful in figuring out how Sgt. Al pulled off those stunts of his a few days ago?”

Carrie opens her mouth, likely about to say a snarky retort, but she stopped herself. Her mouth closed and she looked down at the controls, her brows furrowing in concentration. “...that’s a good suggestion,” she finally says. “I’ll see what these controls are capable of. You can be here as my witness, so you can corroborate my story.”

I nod, having no issue with the idea. I wanted to see if I was correct just as much as she did. I spend some time experimenting with the auditorium controls with Carrie. The two of us grew a little closer today.

In the end, we couldn’t find anything strange with the stage controls. Everything seemed to work just as intended, according to the occasional explanations Carrie would provide to me. I could see that spark in her eyes again whenever she did so.

It was strange how much of a difference it made when Carrie was in her natural habitat compared to...well, literally anywhere else. She always seemed like she’d rather be anywhere than she currently was, but here, with the machines and mechanisms she was most familiar with, she knew exactly what she was doing and seemed completely natural in the space.

“You seem to get excited about working with this type of technology,” I comment. We had finished up our investigation and Carrie was just doing general maintenance now after complaining about some response issues.

“It is my talent. I pity the person out there who despises the talent they were recognized for.” Disinterest blanketed Carrie’s face again as she put some of her tools away. “I enjoy what I do. That’s why I do it. I don’t have the time to schedule in something without benefit to me in any way.”

“You’re rather focused on that schedule. It seems like you spend more time working on it than actually following it.”

Carrie scoffs and rolls her eyes. “As if I need to be reminded. Everything was fine until I wound up here. I had some time to attempt planning ahead for a new schedule, but this killing game threw a wrench into it and now I’m back to square one. There’s also the unpredictability of the murders, so I’m left with massive slates of time just labeled as ‘free time’. It’s insanity, I tell you! Absolute insanity! How can anyone _live_ like this?!”

Huh. There’s more of that passion...and it’s over micromanaging every second of her life. Even I’m not that bad with my scheduling and I’m balancing homework, test prep, extracurriculars, and university courses. “What is your fascination with scheduling this way? I don’t understand it.”

“It’s all about efficiency,” Carrie explains. “I’m a technician, after all. My entire goal is to make sure all machinery runs with as much efficiency as possible. So, I do the same with my life. I make sure not a second is left to waste, which is why having massive blocks of vague, meaningless time stuffed in my schedule is...” She lets out a deep sigh, frowning deeply. “...I don’t know why I’m explaining this to you. We’re done investigating, you can leave now.”

Well, I didn’t want to argue with that. I offer her a nod and leave the area.

I spend the next half hour catching up on some reading in privacy. It was getting later and, regrettably, I was in charge of dinner at the moment, so I only got a couple of chapters in before I was off to the kitchen.

On my way to the cafeteria, I noticed that Daniella was standing by the garden, impatiently tapping her foot with an angry expression. I already know I don’t want to get involved, but her eyes zeroed in on me, and there was no escape then.

“Hey! Shouldn’t you be in the cafeteria right now?” Daniella asks me. It felt like she was trying to accuse me of something, but I really don’t know what her problem was...well, her current problem. I could name a lot more.

“That’s where I’m heading now. What are you doing here? Were you waiting for me?”

“Uh, no! Why would I wait for a dumb skank like you?” Sounds like she’s still bitter about me talking back to her the other night, then.

“Then who are you waiting for?”

“Who said I was waiting for anyone?! Keep your nose out of my business!”

She’s...definitely waiting for someone. This conversation is getting absolutely nowhere, though. “...I’m going to the cafeteria now.” I shake my head and walk off, doing my best to ignore whatever Daniella tried to retort with as I left.

A small handful of people were already waiting for dinner. Shimo was meditating at a table while Axel excitedly chattered with him. Adam was reading a book with some tea. Xavier was here as well, looking at himself in a compact mirror and gently adjusting his hair. He noticed me in the reflection and looks over to shoot me a smile. I grimace in return.

I march into the kitchen silently, trying to look like I knew what I was doing more than I actually did. I should have taken more culinary classes, but I also never intended to be cooking meals for groups. Anything I do know how to make are individual meals that typically require a microwave and nothing else. And other than Axel, everyone else has proven to be exceptional in the kitchen. I was never going to match up to that, and I can already think of a few people who won’t let the chance to make comments slide.

Still, failing to make anything would warrant more comments. It’s just food, how hard can it possibly be to make something for a group to eat? I can’t do any worse than Axel. There must be something easy to make. I start rummaging around until I manage to find a few frozen pizzas. That should work. I preheat the oven and, once it was ready, put the pizzas inside to cook.

It’s hardly glamorous. Hell, I’d hardly call it food. But this was the best I was going to do unless everyone wanted to eat plain white rice and toast. And, being realistic, I knew there would be pushback to it.

In the end, I had made four pizzas and cut them all into eight even slices. That was two for everyone, so there shouldn’t be any complaints...well, about the serving sizes anyway.

I set the pizzas down on the serving counter and take a couple of slices for myself, moving to sit alone. By now, almost everyone was in the room, so a group of hungry teenagers soon swarmed the pizzas to get a slice of their favorite before it was gone.

I start eating my food. I wince as soon as I do so. It’s disgusting, greasy crap and I knew it was going to leave me with a stomach ache. I should have made something else for myself, but someone might have seen that as suspicious. I wasn’t the only one who seemed to hold such a low opinion of the frozen pizza, though.

“What the hell is this?” Neil asks, turning up his nose at the remaining slices.

“I’m pretty sure it’s pizza,” Axel says. “Oh, look, this one has olives! I can make a smiley face on it with them!” Axel snatches up two of the slices that had caught his interest and goes to sit down with them.

“Tsk, absolutely vile,” Neil spits. He looks in my direction. “You! What went through your head to make something as nutritiously void as this? The others at least had some sense when cooking!”

“I was thinking ‘I’m not a chef’ and threw some pizzas in the oven,” I respond. “I don’t like them, either, but it’s the best I could do to feed 16 teenagers.”

“That’s not an excuse! Get back in the kitchen and make something edible!” Neil grabs his whistle and blows into it.

I had half a mind to just grab my pizza slices and shove them in his stupid mouth so he chokes on them. Instead, I look away and take another bite of the slimy junk food.

Javier retches as he finally tastes the food, immediately dropping his slice back onto his tray and shoving it away. “That’s vile!” the prince shrieks. “I’ve never tasted anything so cheap in my life! Which of you fools made this? I’ll have your heads for assaulting my tongue in such a way!”

I shoot a glare Javier’s way, which seems enough to shut him up. He turns to his sister, lips quivering from fright. “A-Alejandria, say something to her!”

The knight looks at her brother then at me. “Thank you for the food, Vanessa. I’m sure you did your best.”

I nod in return. “You’re welcome.”

“That’s not what I meant you _know it!_ ” Javier snaps at his sister. His sister ignored him in favor of returning to her food.

Most of the others seemed comfortable either eating the pizza or silently making something else to eat for the night. I let out a light sigh and do the same, preparing a bowl of rice and making an egg to put on it. I left my slices with the rest of the pizza for anyone to take.

Dinner went on peacefully enough from there. Everyone was in the room, the groups and cliques forming with more strength. Shimo sat with Axel, but he wasn’t too far away from Alejandria and Javier, either. The knight and ninja would occasionally look toward each other. Teddy was seated with Neil and Super Cat, looking happy to talk to the personal trainer despite the other’s clear annoyance at every little thing. At least Super Cat seemed happy to be there. Melody, Velma, and Madame Ruby were all sitting together as they spoke about something or other. Xavier was seated with Jaida and Adam, the latter simply letting the other two overtake whatever conversation they were having. Even Carrie and Daniella were sitting together now, the two of them in silence as they ate.

...was I really the only one who was sitting alone during our mealtimes? I hadn’t really taken the time to notice before now, but it seemed quite...glaring to me at this point. No one’s really tried to sit with me, either.

I shift my jaw before taking another bite of my dinner. Why did I care? I still found most of them annoying, and the ones I didn’t were sat with someone that was, so I didn’t feel very inclined to seek them out myself. I was just fine like this...

“Oh, Vanessa!” Melody called out to me, waving from her seat. “Come here!”

...but I guess I won’t deny someone requesting me. I get up from my seat, taking my tray with me as I walk over and sit next to Melody.

“Ah, you didn’t have to bring your tray over...” Melody says with a sheepish smile.

“It’s fine,” I assure sincerely. “What is it that you wanted?”

“Ah, right. I felt bad for dropping the responsibility of making snacks on you in front of everyone like I did. So I wanted to offer to help you with it!”

“Oh.” Now I did feel silly for moving over the table. “I’d be fine with that, sure. I still didn’t have any ideas for what to make anyway.”

“Great! I have a load of ideas, so we can work on them as soon as I’m done eating.”

“Ah...I wanted to mention,” Velma sighs, “but I think I’ll have to skip the movie viewing tonight. I’m positive I won’t be capable of attending.”

Melody’s smile droops at that. “Oh...alright, Velma. I’m sorry to hear that...”

“I can escort you to your room if you require, Princeton-san,” Madame Ruby says.

The poet nods. “That would be appreciated. If you’re ready now, I don’t have much appetite.”

“Of course.” Madame Ruby stands up, smiling to the rest of us. “I’ll be back soon, Brooks-chan. I intend to join our little party...I’m sure it’ll be interesting~” She giggles into her sleeve as she walks off with Velma.

“Come on, I’m done eating, we can get started on the snacks,” Melody says to me, getting up from the table. “The others will probably be heading to the auditorium once they finish, so we can try to meet them there with the food!”

I get up with Melody and return to the kitchen. She manages to find a popcorn maker in the cabinets and I find some kernels, so we get to work on cooking those. She gets several bottles of soda out and, at my request, some water. I manage to find paper bowls and plastic cups stashed away. We also decided to get some packaged cookies out and get some chips and salsa ready.

Now it was just waiting for all the popcorn to finish popping, so we were left standing against the counter together.

“Are you excited for tonight, Vanessa?” Melody asks me, absolutely beaming. “I think it’ll be a lot of fun, you know? Axel and I picked out the movies we want to watch already, so we have three of them lined up!”

“Mm. I don’t watch a lot of movies, so I’m sure it’ll be a new experience for me.”

“What? Really?” Melody frowns softly. “You don’t read, you don’t watch movies...what do you do for fun?”

“Study,” I reply plainly.

That answer didn’t seem to ease the librarian. “That’s all? Don’t you have friends from school to spend time with? Any hobbies you have? Anything besides school?”

...did I have anything like that? I try to think back on it, but my head started to buzz upon trying. I scowl and put a hand to my head. “No...I don’t do anything else. Why does it matter?”

“It just sounds...really lonely. There’s more to life than just study--”

“What do you know?!” I snap back. “You don’t know me. You don’t know my life. You don’t know anything, so what gives you the right to start judging me and how I decide to live?!”

Melody falls silent for a few moments. I...I don’t know where that came from. I get angry sometimes, but that was...different somehow.

“...I...I’m sorry,” Melody finally relents. “You’re right. I was just...I was thinking about what you said a few days ago. You’ve been sitting alone every day at mealtimes, I see you talk to people sometimes but you always seem so distant, and...and I don’t know anything about you, Vanessa. But I want to! I want to be your friend and be there for you! I...I trust you, Vanessa. You’re headstrong, collected, intelligent--I know I can trust someone like you in a situation like this. I’m scared. Everyone is scared. I just want to make us all feel better and bond. If we start fighting and distrusting each other, then we’ll lose sight of the real problem we have. I want you to be able to trust me, too, if no one else. I want everyone to get out of this alive!”

Now I was silent, mulling over what she was saying. Her tone was sincere, and...really, I’ve never seen her do anything to hurt someone. She’s only ever been trying to keep things under control and bring everyone together. Even if I don’t trust or like the others, we do have a common enemy. Maybe...Maybe I am being too hard on her...on everyone. But even so, to so blindly trust them all is just...

“...I’ll...consider us friends from now on, then,” I finally say. “If my trust means that much to you, I’m...I’m willing to give it to you.”

Melody immediately perks up at that. “R-Really? You mean that, Vanessa?”

I nod softly. “I do. I’m willing to trust in you, Melody. So see to it that it’s not misplaced.”

“Oh, I won’t let you down, I swear!” The librarian throws herself onto me, pulling me into a hug with the biggest grin on her face. “Thank you so much, Vanessa!”

I look away, blushing softly. I put my hand over my mouth to try and hide it. “...alright, Melody, that’s enough hugging.”

“Huh? Oh, right, sorry!” She lets go of me again, still grinning. “...oh, shoot, I almost forgot I told Axel I’d meet up to help him get the movies going! I’ll have to go. Vanessa, can you handle everything?”

“I should, it’s just getting the popcorn prepared. You can go.”

“Alright, great! See you soon!” Melody hurries out of the room, leaving me to get the last of the snacks ready.

I look around for the cafeteria for a little while. I managed to find what I was looking for--a cart to put all the food onto. I set down the chips, salsa, and cooks on the top of the two shelves along with the bowels. Soda, water, and cups went on the bottom.

After that, it was waiting for all the popcorn to finish popping. It took several more minutes, but once it had finished, I pour it into a large bowl. I had some salt and liquid butter we had dug out and stir it all up then place the bowl down with the last of the food. I thought the setup looked nice. The others were going to mess it up very quickly, I knew. I decide the best course of action was to get my snacks ready. I take one of the cookies and some of the chips and salsa, as well as a water bottle. I didn’t want the popcorn, though. It seemed disgusting.

I push the cart into the auditorium, seeing that many of the others had gathered. It was easier to count out those that were missing: Daniella, Velma, Neil, and Teddy. The others were here, either sitting in chairs or in the control room. I wheel the cart of food into the aisle and sit down with my own snacks.

Melody steps out of the control room, smiling brightly. Carrie could be seen in the window, working on getting a projector working while Axel watched over her shoulder. “Okay, everyone! The movies are about to start! We picked out three of them for us all to watch! Help yourselves to snacks, we made sure there’s plenty for everyone!”

“Hey, what movie are we going to be watching first?” Super Cat asks from his seat. “I don’t think we discussed what we’re watching!”

“Oh! It’s going to be a horror movie! After that, we found an action movie to play, and then an animated one. But I’m keeping the titles a secret~ Oh, oh! I also have a big surprise at the end of the night to show you all! But that’s a double secret~!”

I take a small bite of my cookie. I really wasn’t sure what to expect from the movies we were about to watch, but...I’m sure that Melody knows what she’s doing with this.

The movie starts soon and everyone quickly gets their snacks and sits down before it starts. The movie itself seemed to be about a family of some kind slowly unraveling at the seams with tragedy after tragedy afflicting them. There were some underlying supernatural forces at play that become more blatant as the movie progresses. I...actually kind of enjoyed the movie, but the gory scenes made my stomach churn painfully. I had to look away.

I just wish the room was quieter. Javier wouldn’t keep it down every time something even remotely _surprising_ happened in the movie. Super Cat wasn’t any better. Madame Ruby kept talking through it about all of the spiritual parts and that alone was enough to drive me crazy. Axel was...laughing sometimes? There was never anything funny on screen, but he really seemed to like the scenes with fire in them which...I guess makes sense. I could see Jaida shaking like a leaf from her seat, but she was trying to keep up a big grin.

The movie eventually came to an end and Axel hopped up to go put on the next movie.

“What an interesting film~” Madame Ruby says. “I don’t often get to watch Western supernatural movies, but I was thoroughly entertained~”

“H-H-How could you be entertained by s-something so...u-urk...so h-horrible?!” Javier practically screeches. His face was pale with a tinge of green, wide-eyed and sweating bullets.

“P-Please...it...wasn’t even that scary,” Jaida says through gritted teeth. She was sweating, too.

“Mm...well, I was frightened...” Shimo says in his typical calm voice.

“Do you even feel emotions?” Carrie asks.

“Do you?” Axel counters, popping up behind her. “Oh, by the way, the next motive is starting! Get your snack refills or use the bathroom if you need to!”

Some people shuffle around, but I stay seated. I still had half a cookie and my chips and salsa. The next movie begins. From what I was hearing in the crowd that won’t shut up during the movie, it was some summer blockbuster without a lot of substance. And I really, really couldn’t say that was wrong. It seemed like it was a superhero movie specifically, although I didn’t really know any of the characters or what was happening. It became really easy to zone out and just mentally flip through my textbooks. I mumbled random facts to myself until the credits were rolling.

Super Cat definitely seemed like he had a good time. His eyes were practically shining under his mask and he was on the edge of his seat.

“Well, that was a bit easier to stomach,” Xavier comments. He gently swirls around a half-empty water bottle in his hand with a bored expression.

“Oh, it gets much better in the sequel!” Axel says. “That’s when Tha--”

“HEY! I HAVEN’T SEEN IT YET!” Super Cat’s voice echos off the walls.

“Hm...this was the more typical of an American movie that I was expecting,” Madame Ruby says with a thin smile. “How absolutely brain-numbing.”

“And the next one is a children’s cartoon...” Adam sighs.

“Hey! Animated movies are way more than just kids’ movies!” Melody declares. “Don’t dismiss them so quickly!”

“I’ll get the next movie playing,” Carrie sighs. “I’m leaving after it anyway.”

“Aw, already..? But it’s the last movie...”

Carrie doesn’t respond to the librarian. She gets up and gets the last of the movies playing, then leaves the room. She pauses at the door and looks over her shoulder. “Hey, Axel, you remember what I told you before, right?”

Axel perks up and looks back at her. “Uuuh...about what?”

Carrie was quiet for a few moments before sighing and shaking her head. “Idiot...” She leaves the room finally.

“I think I’m due for bed as well,” Adam says. “Master Harper, you should come, too. You have hall duty tonight.”

“Oh, that’s right. Well, I’ll have to catch you all again later. _Ciao~_ ” The heartthrob and the butler both leave the room.

I was tempted to call it quits and leave as well, but I knew Melody would get upset if I did. And after our talk in the kitchen...I’ll just suffer through. With a sigh, I start chewing on my chips as the final movie begins to play.

The movie was a Disney movie. Even I could recognize it as such. It was about two princesses in a vaguely European country and one of them had some kind of weather-based powers. It was better than the last movie at least, but still far from anything I’d actually want to watch on my own time. The nighttime announcement had played at some point through the film, but no one really reacted to it.

“Man, why’d it have to be all snow and stuff?” Axel whines. “It’d be so much cooler if she could blast fire out of her hands!”

“I don’t think the movie would be quite as long if that were the case,” Madame Ruby hums.

“...I liked it...” Shimo murmurs gently from his seat.

“Actually, I thought it was nice,” Alejandria says finally. “It was...relatable, in a sense.”

It was hard to tell how Javier might have felt about that analysis, considering he was fast asleep in his seat and had been through half the movie.

“I should probably get him to his room.” The knight gets up and scoops up the much smaller prince into her arms with little effort. She was heading for the door when something annoying appears.

“What are you all still doing here?!” Sgt. Al’s voice screeches at us after he popped up from nowhere. “It’s late! Didn’t you hear the nighttime announcement?!”

“We were watching movies together!” Melody huffs. She puffs out her cheeks to try looking more intimidating. “What’s so wrong with that?!”

“Of course a bunch of criminals would have no respect for the rules, hm? I can’t wait to get rid of the next pathetic criminal! Report back to your rooms ON THE PRONTO!”

“Why does it matter so much?” I ask, making sure to give our captor a challenging glare. “The rules only state that nighttime starts at 10 and some rooms are closed during that...actually, you haven’t told us what rooms that include.”

Sgt. Al grumbles softly. “It includes the kitchen and the garden for now! That’s when I restock your food and make sure all the plants are cared for. Satisfied?!”

“Very. Because that means we still aren’t breaking any rules and you need to leave us alone.”

The gator growls loudly. “Don’t you take that tone with ME, maggot! Don’t forget who’s in charge around here, or do you need a little REMINDER?!”

“...we were all about to retire to bed for the night...” Shimo assures. “...so...if you won’t mind letting us through...I’m sure we’re all ready to sleep now...”

With another grumble, the gator turns and crosses his arms. “The disrespect of these criminals is unmatchable...”

“Oh, oh!” Axel hops up from his seat. “I almost forgot! Carrie helped me rig up something super awesome I wanted to close out the night with!” The pyrotechnic goes dashing for the control room.

“Hey, I’m still talking to you all!” Sgt. Al snarls. No one was even looking at him anymore, however.

“Let’s see, let’s see...which of these buttons did she tell me to push?” Axel hums to himself, wiggling his fingers in anticipation. “...oh, this one!” He slams his fist down onto a button. The sound of something shooting into the air echoes, soon followed by a booming explosion.

I quickly jerk my head in the direction of the noise. Javier awoke with a shriek and several of the others responded similarly. Even Super Cat and Shimo suddenly became on edge. But...it wasn’t explosives of any kind going off. Instead, several small rockets had shot into the air and burst above our heads. They end up spelling out the word GOODNIGH above the stage before the flash of colors starts to fizzle out and fall back down to the ground.

“Oh my!” Madame Ruby gasps. “What a splendid little display~ What a wonderful surprise, Pyre-san.”

“Yeah, that kicked ass!” Jaida cries, finally looking excited.

“Ugh...my ears...” Super Cat whines softly.

“...Axel, was that safe..?” Shimo asks.

“Safe as a bee in my suit!” Axel chirps. None of us really seemed to know if that was a comforting statement or not. “...huh, but I think Carrie messed up the setup. One of my fireworks didn’t go off!”

“Maybe it was just a dud,” Alejandria suggests, trying to relax the now shaking Javier.

“Hey, I don’t make duds!” Axel demands. “Bah, I guess I can just check on it tomorrow...”

“If you’re all done IGNORING ME!” Sgt. Al screeches. “I now have a mess to clean up thanks to all of you brats. So clear out of the room! The auditorium is going to be closed for the night as well!”

“You’re ruining the good vibes I was making!” Axel whines, throwing his arms up. “First my fireworks don’t work right, and now you!”

“Axel, it’s fine,” I sigh. “The night’s over. Let’s just go to bed so he’ll leave us alone.”

Axel’s shoulders slump. “What an awful note to end the day on...I’ll never recover from this...”

“...I’ll walk you to your room tonight, Pyre-san...” Shimo says gently, rising from his seat.

Axel immediately perks back up. “What a perfect way to end the night! C’mon!” He wraps one of his arms around the ninja’s own and practically drags Shimo from the room. Alejandria was close to follow with Javier still in her arms.

The last of us trickle out of the room in a group, now walking back to our individual rooms.

“I wish everyone could have made it tonight...” Melody sighs to herself.

“...hm~” Madame Ruby hums gently, her smile thin. She didn’t say much else.

“I think tonight was great!” Super Cat reassures. “Maybe we can try doing something else soon. Working out might help us get Teddy and Neil to come, or maybe something literature-related for Velma. I think we just need to be more inclusive!”

“Hm...yeah, that’s right!” Melody chirps, smiling again. “That’s a great idea, Super Cat! I’ll do some brainstorming tonight and we can think of something else for everyone to do!”

Just before we entered the main hall, Madame Ruby grabbed mine and Super Cat’s hands while Melody continued walking forward. I stop and look at the medium, jerking my hand away. “What are you doing?”

Madame Ruby watched Melody leave the hall then snaps her attention back to the two of us. “Tomorrow, once we have all woken up, would the two of you mind assisting me with something?”

“Of course we wouldn’t mind!” Super Cat answers for both of us. “What seems to be the problem?”

“...the air has shifted around us. I could sense it for some time, but now that we have left the auditorium, I am certain of it--something is wrong. The whispers of the dead grow erratic and I have a suspicion that someone may have acted...mm...darkly.”

Madame Ruby’s tone was incredibly calm, but the weight of her words were still not lost on us.

“You...You think someone might have tried to kill someone else?!” Super Cat demands.

Madame Ruby closes her eyes. “Oh, I am afraid it may be much more than just an attempt...but, ah, I cannot speak with certainty. Merely a strong probability. That is why I ask of your help. Brooks-chan is far too gentle for me to ask something like that of her, but the two of you seem like excellent contenders for handling this situation.”

“What makes you so sure this is true?” I counter. “You’re going to have to do a little bit better than your supernatural beliefs to convince me this isn’t just a trap.”

Madame Ruby laughs into her sleeve. “Oh, Huang-san, how you humor me~” Her expression turns darker. “Do not speak to me in such a way, _girl_. I’m no fool. Why would I ask two people to come with me, with the intent to search the entire facility where we can be seen by just about anyone, and expect to commit any heinous acts with success?” Her gaze relaxes again. “I am not asking you to trust my intuition yourself, but I am asking for your assistance in the probability it is right. You would want to aid me in such an endeavor, would you not?”

Well, she’s not exactly wrong. Whether this is a wild goose chase or she knows something more than she’s letting on, I can’t deny the possibility that something could have happened and we’d need to know.

“Why do we have to do it tomorrow? What if someone _is_ hurt?! We should be investigating right now!”

“Do you recall what Sgt. Al told us before?” Madame Ruby asks. “Several rooms are closed during the nighttime. As it stands, even if we did investigate tonight, we could hardly do anything thorough. We’d be better off doing so in the morning. In any case, we have the nighttime patrol to ensure that nothing is tampered with until then.”

“She’s right,” I say. “Let’s get to sleep for now and meet tomorrow during breakfast. Then we can go out and investigate together.”

Super Cat still looked tense, but he nodded softly. The three of us make our way back to the main hall. My eyes lock with Xavier for a moment and he looked like he was about to say something to me. I make sure to enter my room before the words leave his lips.

I get into my bedroom with a sigh and lock my door. I could feel how exhausted I was after a long day with everyone else behind me. Now I have to worry about Madame Ruby’s words as well. I had no reason to trust her intuition when it’s based on such nonsense...but I also can’t outright deny her worries given the situation we’re in. There was a lot of time where a lot of people were walking around and unaccounted for, so if someone wanted to strike...

I sigh again and get myself ready for bed. Nothing to gain from worrying about it. The faster I get to sleep, the faster I can find out what’s happening.

...

I’m awoken the next day by the morning announcement, but I can’t say it leaves much of an impression on me. I’m still thinking about what Madame Ruby said last night. I make sure to get myself out of bed and dressed as soon as possible.

I head out into the halls and to the cafeteria. Xavier was busy making some food, but I wasn’t thinking about it too much. I just lingered by the doorway, watching people come in. Super Cat arrived next, looking alert. The two of us share a small nod and he joins me at the door.

“Vanessa?” Melody asks, looking back at the two of us. She smiles warmly. “Hey, what are you doing over there? Come eat with me today! Velma’s going to read us some of her poetry!”

“...ah, I have plans,” I say vaguely. “Maybe later, okay?”

Melody nods and looks back to Velma. After a while, everyone else had entered the room except for two people. I couldn’t help but begin to worry until she finally arrived.

“Oh, good morning.” Madame Ruby offers Super Cat and I a smile. “I see the two of you are wanting to do this before we eat, hm?”

“If something bad has happened, then we have to act as quickly as possible,” Super Cat says, for once speaking in the softest voice I’d ever heard from him. I was quiet, but I couldn’t shake this gnawing feeling that something was...wrong. I kept counting the people over and over in the cafeteria, but I kept coming up short.

The three of us head out of the room. We didn’t bother with the auditorium, so instead, we look in the library first. The room was empty, however, so we all went back to the main hall.

“Xavier was cooking just fine, so I doubt anything was in the kitchen...” Super Cat muses to himself. “We were in the auditorium all night, so it can’t be there. And the library was cleared.”

“Mm. That leaves the individual bedrooms and the garden,” Madame Ruby says. “Given that we don’t have access to bedrooms, our next choice seems clear enough.”

The three of us look to the garden door but no one moves yet. I have to be overthinking things. That person could have just slept in or decided to avoid us. Hell, maybe I miscounted or we just didn’t cross paths while the three of us were looking around.

“...well, let us commence.” Madame Ruby begins walking forward, with Super Cat and I following after. She opens the door and...

Something flies up into the air from the center of the room, followed by an explosion and a loud crash. We watch glass rain down through the room, striking the ground before any of us even had the chance to enter the room.

“Oh, my!” Madame Ruby gasps.

Super Cat shoves past both of us, charging into the room before all of the glass had even landed. Madame Ruby followed as soon as it seemed safe and I wasn’t far behind.

My heart was thudding in my ears, mixed with the ringing of the explosion. Glass now coated every part of the room, from the grass to the benches to the buses and tree. Everything shined from the morning light trickling in. It would almost be beautiful if not for the repulsive stench in the air.

It only took my mind a second to realize that I was smelling blood. The other two smelled it as well, from the looks of things. We walk around the massive tree in the center of the room and...

**Ding-Dong~ Bing-Bong~**

“A body has been discovered! After a certain amount of time, which you can use however you want, the class trial will begin!”

The announcement buzzed in my head, which was quickly being overwhelmed by that thick static migraine as I bore witness to the sight before me. On a bench in the back of the room was **Daniella Hawthorne, the Ultimate Band Leader** , her body impaled with massive shards of glass and a dead, hollow look frozen on her decapitated head, which laid on its side on the grass.


	8. Chapter 1: No Crimes Are Created Equal - Deadly Life Investigation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone gets down and dirty to investigate the recent murder! It seems like Vanessa is having an adverse reaction to the body, though. She can only hope she can make it through with her friend by her side.

**Chapter 1: No Crimes Are Created Equal [Deadly Life - START!]**

_“You must remain calm,” Mother’s stern voice came from behind me. Her eyes pierced into the back of my head like daggers. It was always hard to remain composed under her steely gaze, but I was silent, trying to focus instead._

_“Steady yourself. Take a deep breath. You must remain composed. If you show an ounce of weakness, you will fail.”_

_I swallow dryly, trying not to let her see the way my body shook. I take a deep breath, then another. I felt my body still. I had to remain calm. Those were Mother’s orders. She was expecting more from me. I can’t possibly let her down._

_“...better. Now, do you remember the next step?”_

Do I...remember..? I try to recall what the next step was, but my head began to buzz. It was loud, drowning out my own voice as I spoke. It drowned out Mother’s response. The buzz leaks into my eyes, dulling the shapes and colors around me as everything faded away into a haze.

There was a scream. It was loud and nearby, enough so to piece through the thick static in my head. The fuzz blurring my vision lifts, allowing reality to crash down around me again.

Daniella was dead. Her corpse was lying in front of us. Her body was slumped on the bench, her head disconnected at the shoulders and laying at our feet. Daniella was dead. There was blood, the thick stench of rot in the air. Super Cat was screaming next to me. Daniella was dead. My stomach was turning and twisting into tight knots. My head still buzzed with pain. The world was turning and spinning around me. Daniella was dead.

_Daniella was dead._

**_Daniella was dead._ **

I put an arm around my gut, the pain almost unbearable. “G...Guurrk..!” My eyes widen and I put a hand over my mouth. I turn, leaning over the bushes as hot bile comes up, burning my insides as I let it out.

What...What the hell was wrong with me..? The smell of her blood and...and seeing that corpse. I-I can’t take it. It’s like my entire body is rejecting the very notion of it. I was shaking, coughing, and sputtering as I struggle to regain composure.

The door swung open and the sound of crunching glass filled the room as several people come running inside.

“We heard the announcement!” Melody’s voice shrieks. “What’s aa... **_AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!_ **” An actual shriek followed soon after.

“O-Oh my god, is...is that..?!” Jaida puts her hand over her mouth with wild, panicked eyes.

“There...There no way...this real...” Teddy whimpers weakly.

“Her head...g-god, I...I think I’m going to be sick..!” Xavier groans.

“H...hrrrk!” Even the mention of that made my stomach lurch again, but I manage to swallow the burning sensation back down.

“This is...troubling...” Velma mumbles softly.

“Daniella...” Super Cat sobs, his massive body shaking. “I...I’m sorry...that I couldn’t...”

I felt a hand placed on my shaking shoulder and I flinched, shrinking in on myself. I was struggling to take deep breaths, both hands clamped over my mouth so I didn’t sob or vomit again.

“Well, well, well!” A gravelly voice echoes out. “It looks like you all finally managed to do what you needed to and offed someone else!”

“What the hell are you doing here?!” Javier shrieks. “Don’t kill us!”

“Ha, I wish! No, I’m here to deliver something important to all of you maggots! It’s...the MonoFile!”

“...the what..?” Shimo asks softly.

The gator sighs heavily. “It’s an autopsy report, ya brain freeze! I’m here to give you only the most useful information pertaining to the death of our fizzled-out star. I have the file right here! Once you look it over, it’ll save to your handbooks for later review!”

“Wh-Why the hell would we want something as fucked up as that?!” Jaida demands. “I don’t want to look over something that...that’s creepy!”

“What, did you already forget? We have a class trial to get to! And your investigation period _is_ limited, so you all better do your best! As the warden of this establishment, I need to ensure everything runs smoothly. Make sure you thank me later!”

“A...class trial..?” Xavier asks hesitantly.

“It was in the rules if you’d read them at all!” Neil barks. “Whenever a murder occurs, we’ll be hosting a class trial!”

“Don’t those rules also say if we vote the wrong person, we all get punished?” Carrie asks.

“Urk...well...” That seemed to shut Neil up.

“Yes, yes, a class trial!” Sgt. Al responds. “I’ll explain it more in the actual trial, but for now, all you need to know is that you’ll be hunting down the killer of this case by investigating the building for any and all clues left behind! I’ll call you all when it’s time for the trial!”

The gator must have left because I didn’t hear his voice anymore. I was barely focusing on the conversation around me now, the stench of death lingering in the air starting to finally drive my mind down into the depths of fuzzy numbness. I couldn’t calm down as long as that smell was there, and as long as I knew Daniella was still behind me, dead, decapitated, staring with empty eyes.

I didn’t realize I was moving until the smell was gone. I slowly open my eyes to see that I was in the commons again, a very concerned Melody standing in front of me. “Vanessa..? Can you hear me? I’m getting really worried about you!”

“I...I...” The words come out like lumps in my throat, my shaking hands refusing to move away from my mouth. I must have been pale because I could feel how cold and clammy I was at the moment. I still felt sick, but even being out of that room was beginning to lessen my problems.

“Vanessa, it’s okay. You don’t have to go back in there. I...I don’t want to, either. Seeing...Daniella like that...”

I close my eyes tightly again, taking shuddering breaths. What the hell was wrong with me? I don’t give a damn about Daniella being dead or not...at least, I don’t think I do. I don’t feel sad or upset, just...disgust and fear and pain. Seeing her body...it set something off in me that I wasn’t even aware existed.

“Hey, look at me!” I open my eyes again as Melody spoke, her expression turning more serious. “It’s gonna be okay, Vanessa. Just breathe with me, okay? Deep breaths, really big ones. Can you do that?”

Melody takes a deep breath. I try to do the same. She does it again. I copy her, better than before. And again. And again. And again. And again.

The pain in my head lifts as I breathed and my heart was beginning to still. I manage to stand up straight, still shaking a little, but far calmer than before. I take a few more slow breaths.

Melody smiles gently. “Better?”

I nod softly. “Yeah...better.”

Melody’s expression flickers to one of concern now. “What happened back there? I’ve never seen you act like that before.”

“...I...I don’t know...” Admitting that was hard, but...I said I was going to trust Melody, didn’t I? Besides, she didn’t have to help me like that. “I just...I saw the body and...everything seemed to spiral away from me. Something about the...blood...and the gore...”

“Ah...it sounds like you had a panic attack. Do you have hemophobia? Or maybe some traumatic experiences that could trigger a reaction like that?”

I try to think back on what might have caused something like that, but I’m stopped by that static in my head. I wince and grit my teeth for a second. It still hurt to think like that. “...not that I know of...”

“Well, it doesn’t sound like you’re really in any condition to investigate the body, Vanessa. Maybe you should sit this out...”

“I’m not doing that. If we really have this strange...trial thing coming up, I can’t walk in underprepared. I need to be as ready as possible to handle this.”

Melody purses her lips and crosses her arms. “That doesn’t sound like a good idea, Vanessa. With how you reacted...”

“I’ll be fine. I...” I pause, frowning to myself. Would I be fine? I’ve never had a reaction like that before, but it alone was enough to stop me in my tracks. I don’t want to deal with panic like that again. At the same time, I don’t trust any of these bastards to investigate properly or work to keep us alive. I don’t have a choice. I need to conduct my own investigation.

“...Melody, can you...help me?” The words were foreign to me. Asking for help simply isn’t something I do. The very idea was already making me feel immense amounts of shame...but it’s clear I won’t be able to conduct a full investigation without some kind of aid in the act of viewing the body, let alone being in the same room as it. “I won’t be able to handle looking at the body myself, so...I’m hoping you’ll be willing to stand there with me while I investigate.”

Melody smiles brightly and nods. “Of course, Vanessa! Whatever I can do to help, you can count on me!”

A small smile tugs on my lips. Huh...is this what it’s like to have a friend? I never really bothered in school, with so much else on my plate. But...this was nice. “I’m ready to go back in if you are.”

The librarian nods, so we both venture back into the garden. The stench in the room was almost enough to knock me off my feet, but I brave through it and walked to the back where... _she_ was waiting.

Upon seeing Daniella again, I felt my stomach leap and a lump form in my throat. I look away, putting a hand over my nose and mouth to try to block out the wretched smell. My body was starting to shake. I felt a warm hand grab onto my own. I squeezed it, taking several deep, slow breaths until I had calmed myself down.

“Oh, hey, there you are!” Super Cat booms, hurrying back over to the two of us. “Where’d you both run off to?”

“Vanessa just needed a moment to collect herself,” Melody explains for me. “Is there something you needed, Super Cat? We were about to start investigating!”

“Ah, good! Then I’m here just in time!” Super Cat holds out a large black tablet to us. “This is the MonoFile Sgt. Al was telling us about earlier. Everyone else has gotten a look at it already, so it’s all yours!”

“...thanks...” My voice came out more strained than I’d have liked. I move my hand from my mouth and grab the tablet. 

“...are you going to be alright, Vanessa?” Super Cat asks me gently. “You reacted badly when seeing the body. I don’t want you to hurt yourself just to investigate.”

“I’m fine. I...have Melody here to help me, so...I’m fine.”

The hero nods slowly. “Well, okay...just try not to push yourself! I’ll be here to guard the scene of the crime, so if you need anything at all, make sure you come to me!”

I nod softly and look down at the MonoFile as Super Cat walks off. Melody peers at it as I start to go through the information. Everything was organized in a neat file, getting us basic information of Daniella, as well as her condition, who found her body and where, and there was a slot for her time of death. But...it was empty, for some reason. That only left the following information:

_Monofile #1_

_The victim of this case is Daniella Hawthorne, the Ultimate Band Leader. Daniella was found in the indoor garden, decapitated. Several shards of glass have impaled the body. The cause of death is excessive blood loss. The body was discovered by Vanessa, Super Cat, and Madame Ruby._

Is that all there was? I was hoping to see more, but if this is it...still, it’s odd that some information is blatantly missing. At least I have something to work with.

**Truth Bullet Obtained: MonoFile #1**

_Monofile #1_

_The victim of this case is Daniella Hawthorne, the Ultimate Band Leader. Daniella was found in the indoor garden, decapitated. Several shards of glass have impaled the body. The cause of death is excessive blood loss. The body was discovered by Vanessa, Super Cat, and Madame Ruby._

“Hm...shouldn’t there be a time of death here?” Melody asks. “There’s a space for it, after all!”

“Mm...you’re right, I noticed that, too. I’m not sure what Sgt. Al is getting at by removing it, but it must be important somehow.”

“I hope it’s not super important if we don’t know what it is...”

“Let’s continue investigating. We should...probably get to the body now.”

Melody frowns and nods silently. She was still holding my hand as I walked closer to Daniella. I put my other hand over my mouth again as I took deep breaths. My vision was starting to swirl the longer I stood staring, so I try to do everything I need to fast.

Daniella’s body was slumped back in the bench, her head removed cleanly from the shoulders, which now sat in the grass at her feet. Her jacket and shirt were stained scarlet by her blood, as were her hands. All of the blood was dried by now. Broken glass covered her corpse as well.

The expression on her face was one that made me feel worse than before. Her eyes were wide, glazed over and staring at nothing now. Her mouth hung open in a silent scream. I finally look away, my breathing becoming more ragged as I shut my eyes. Melody’s grip on my hand grows tighter, keeping me level. I think I’ve seen enough.

**Truth Bullet Obtained: Daniella’s Body**

_Daniella is sat on a bench, decapitated from the shoulders. Her upper torso, as well as her hands, are stained in dry blood. She’s covered in glass. Her head was lying at her feet, her face frozen in an expression of shock and fear._

I eventually manage to collect myself, taking a few slow breaths and opening my eyes again. Melody was waiting right there for me with a calm smile. I give her a nod and she pats my back.

“I’ll take a closer look at the body, okay?” Melody says. “You wait right here and I’ll report back to you!” With a salute and a grin, Melody walked over to the corpse to investigate. I had to admit it...she was a lot stronger than I gave her credit for. She was handling this better than I was.

“Hey, Vanessa, I found something!” Melody comes back over to me, holding a very large shard of glass in her hands. It was stained in fresh blood. “I found this sitting in Daniella’s lap. It looks important.”

I swallow dryly seeing the blood but nod in agreement. “Definitely. Good find, Melody. Make sure you put it back where you found it.”

“Got it!” Melody seemed happy with the praise as she did what I said. That piece of glass is definitely important, the answer even seemed rather obvious.

**Truth Bullet Obtained: Glass Shard**

_A large, bloody shard of glass was sitting in Daniella’s lap._

“There’s a lot of glass around here, actually,” Melody muses once she was at my side again. “Where did it all come from? I’ve been walking in it this whole time!”

“It came raining down from the ceiling when I entered the garden.” I look up, seeing the sky above us. “There was an explosion of some kind right before that. It must have broken the ceiling above us.”

“An explosion? Ah...yeah, I think I remember hearing it from the cafeteria...” Melody frowns softly. “That sounds really scary...did anyone get hurt?”

I shake my head. “No, I don’t think so. At least, the three of us that showed up didn’t.”

Still, it’s definitely important for us to take note of this. It’s definitely important to the case at hand.

**Truth Bullet Obtained: Explosion**

_There was a loud explosion as soon as Super Cat, Madame Ruby, and I entered the garden this morning. It caused the glass ceiling to shatter._

“Let’s look around the room some more to make sure we aren’t missing anything,” I say. “This is the scene of the crime, so the killer could have left something of importance here.”

“Yeah, good idea!” Melody agrees. The two of us begin to walk around the premises, keeping an eye out for anything that seemed different. It was a bit hard to tell with the glass everywhere or the other people lingering in the room.

“Hey, what the hell?!” came Axel’s voice from nearby. Melody and I look over, seeing him hunched over in the dirt of one of the flower beds.

“Axel, what are you doing?” Melody asks.

“Investigating!” The pyrotechnic gets back to his feet. “And I found a serious clue! No, a crime even! A horrible crime! One that I can never forgive!”

“What would that be?”

“Someone used my matches!”

I sigh and pinch the bridge of my nose. “...what the hell are you talking about?”

“I mean someone used my precious babies without me! Look for yourself!” Axel drags both of us closer and makes us look down in the patch of dirt. Sure enough, about three matches were sitting there, one of them used and the others coated in dirt.

“How do you know these are your matches?” Melody asks curiously.

“Look at them and how distinct they are! That’s the brand I always use! They’re Titan matches, they have longer burn times and are water- and wind-proof. I always have a box on me!”

He was right, the matches didn’t look standard. The sticks were yellow and orange with black heads. Axel takes the matchbook out of his fedora and pops it open, showing us its contents. “See, look? Same matches!”

“How did someone get a hold of your matches, though?” I ask.

“I don’t know, but when I find out who did this, I’ll make them pay! Exactly a dollar eighty!”

This is ridiculous and I almost want to disregard Axel as being nothing more than a headache. But...it seems like he didn’t use those matches, which poses the question of who did.

**Truth Bullet Obtained: Matches**

_Three matches are sitting in a flowerbed in the garden. One of them has been used._

“Axel, I actually wanted to talk to you about last night,” I say after standing up again.

“Huh? Oh, did you like it that much? Well, I’d happily do it again! Y’know, assuming we don’t die soon.”

“I just want you to explain it back to me. Your whole plan for the night, that is. It could be related.”

“Hm? Oh, sure! I had the idea for a while, getting everyone together to watch some movies together! Melody liked it so much that we agreed to do it together. We agreed on three movies to watch after dinner last night! But then I wanted to do something else, too, and show off an example of my shows! So Carrie and I worked together to rig up some fireworks to go off when I pressed the right button! Ah, but not all of them worked...”

“And who showed up?” I press.

“Ah, um...you, Melody, me, Carrie, Shimo, Javier, Alejandria, Adam, Xavier, Madame Ruby, Jaida, and Super Cat! Oh, but Carrie, Adam, and Xavier all left before the third movie started.”

That all sounds correct. I’m not entirely sure if it’s actually relevant or not, but it was a big event that had people moving around and separated. It could be useful in the end.

**Truth Bullet Obtained: Movie Night**

_Axel and Melody orchestrated a movie night to take place last night after dinner. We watched three movies together. Axel also worked with Carrie to set up a small fireworks show that night, but some of the fireworks never went off._

**Truth Bullet Obtained: Movie Night Attendance**

_Vanessa, Melody, Axel, Carrie, Shimo, Javier, Alejandria, Adam, Xavier, Madame Ruby, Jaida, and Super Cat attended the movie night. Carrie, Adam, and Xavier left before the third movie started._

“The movie night went really well, Axel,” Melody says with a smile. “Thanks a lot for the idea, it was a lot of fun!”

“Well, I’m always happy to help!” Axel chirps. “Ah, but now we have to deal with this total mood killer...maybe we’ll do another movie night tonight and forget about all the freaky murder stuff!”

That sounds horrible. I say nothing.

“Oh! But I wanna pose a question to _you_ , Vanessa!” Axel says after a moment. “What were you up to that night?”

“I was making the snacks everyone ate, remember? I did that right after dinner and went straight to the auditorium when I was done. Melody was with me for half of it. I think I got to the auditorium by 6:30 that night.”

“Mhmm, that’s right!” Melody confirms.

“That’s what I thought, but I wanted to make sure we were even!” Axel says. “Still, that’s a good thing to keep in mind! Sounds like one of those alibi things; might be important.”

**Truth Bullet Obtained: Vanessa’s Testimony**

_Vanessa was in the kitchen right after dinner making snacks for half an hour. Melody was with her for about half of that time. Vanessa went directly to the auditorium afterward._

We comb through the rest of the garden as close as we could while also keeping a distance from the corpse. There didn’t seem to be anything else and we agreed to leave once a piece of glass pierced too deeply into Melody’s shoe for her comfort.

“I don’t think there was anything else to see in there,” I say as we step back into the commons.

“Where do we go now, then?” Melody asks.

That was a good question. We knew about the murder scene itself, but there’s about where that ends. “It wouldn’t hurt to do a simple sweep of the entire place. There aren’t that many rooms, so we shouldn’t have to worry about the time limit catching up to us.”

“Right!” With a nod, the two of us head off, going to the cafeteria first. The room was in a mild state of disarray, with trays of half-eaten food sitting around, left behind as everyone had rushed to the garden.

“Well, nothing seems different here...” Melody muses to herself. “I wish I had my appetite back...Xavier’s scrambled eggs were really good...”

“Worry about eating after the trial. Let’s check the kitchen, too, just to be safe.”

We head further into the room. The kitchen seemed fine, although a few dishes were left out from Xavier’s cooking. Seems like he’d been making a rather standard breakfast today. But...

“...isn’t one of the knives missing?” I ask.

“Huh?” Melody follows my gaze to the knife rack on the wall. Sure enough, there was an empty space there where a knife used to be. “Oh, geez, that’s...that’s really scary! Where do you think it is, Vanessa?! What if someone still has it?!”

I...couldn’t answer that question. “I don’t think anyone’s going to use it, Melody. If another body turned up, even before the trial, it’d be even more likely the killer would get caught. I don’t think anyone here is _that_ stupid...”

“I’m still worried...”

**Truth Bullet Obtained: Missing Knife**

_One of the knives is missing from the rack in the kitchen._

Madame Ruby enters the room, looking at the two of us with a long smile. “Ah, Brooks-chan and Huang-san. How nice it is to see you.”

“Oh, hello, Madame Ruby!” Melody grins. “How’s your investigation going?”

“Oh, it’s been quite pleasant, thank you~” She giggles into her sleeve. “...hm, if you’d like, I have a bit of wisdom for the two of you.”

“Oh, what would that be?” Melody seemed excited when she asked, but I was expecting something...well, useless.

“We found Daniella’s body first thing in the morning in the garden. As I’m sure you two recall, we know that space--as well as the kitchen and, in this case, the auditorium--are locked once the nighttime announcement plays. Do keep that fact in mind, will you?”

...huh. That’s actually not as useless as I thought it would be.

**Truth Bullet Obtained: Nighttime Rule**

_The garden and kitchen are locked once the nighttime announcement plays. The auditorium had also been locked that night._

With a hum, Madame Ruby goes about her investigation, completely ignoring Melody and I again.

“It doesn’t look like anything else in the kitchen is out of place. Let’s go to the auditorium, there could be something important there.”

“Mm, right!” Melody smiles brightly again and the two of us head to our next destination.

Upon entering the auditorium, the first thing I noticed was how dark it was. As soon as the doors closed behind the two of us, it was nearly pitch black.

“E-Eek! Vanessa, I can’t see!” Melody yelps from somewhere behind me.

I squint, my eyes already beginning to adjust. “It’s fine, I’ll find my way to the control panel. I’m sure the lights can be controlled there.”

I start carefully stepping through the dark, making my way to the panel in the control room. However, I couldn’t figure out which of the buttons turned on any of the lights. It was too difficult to see. After a few more moments of me fumbling around and Melody whining, light trickled in as the doors opened.

“...what are you two doing in the dark?” Carrie asks us, one of her brows quirked.

“We’re trying to turn on the lights!” Melody says. She had wandered her way over to one of the chairs and was holding onto it like a life preserver.

Carrie sighs and walks over to the control panel. The room was thrown into darkness again, but after a moment, lights turned on above us as Carrie pressed a few buttons.

“Mm...thanks.” I was a little embarrassed to admit I had no idea which button I was supposed to have pressed.

“It’s fine.” Carrie waves a hand dismissively, looking down at her tablet again. “Furthermore, have the two of you investigated this room yet?”

“We only just got here,” I say.

With a nod, Carrie goes about her business privately.

Melody walks back over to me sheepishly. “I didn’t realize the room got so dark without the lights on...but I guess there aren’t any windows in here, huh?”

“You’re right. The lights must have been left off since the movie night. In fact, it’d be pretty difficult to leave the room that night, wouldn’t it? If anyone left, we’d have seen the light from the door opening.”

“Hey, you’re right!” Melody says. “That’s definitely gotta be important!”

**Truth Bullet Obtained: Auditorium Lights**

_It’s nearly pitch black in the auditorium when the lights are turned off. It would be difficult for someone to leave the room unnoticed this way since the doors would let in notable light._

I take notice of Carrie crouched in front of something on the stage with her eyes narrowed and her toolbox at her side. I make my way over to her. “Did you notice something, Carrie?”

She glances back at me. “No, not yet. I’m just looking over our setup for the fireworks. I found a way to hook them up to the control panel so that they would be ignited and fired upon pressing the right button. Axel told me that the setup didn’t fully function, so I came by to look it over and find out what he did wrong.”

“What he did wrong?” Melody asks. “How do you know you didn’t do something wrong?”

“Because I _never_ do anything wrong,” was the sharp reply. Carrie lets out a small sigh through her nose. “...but honestly, I don’t know what he’s talking about. All of the fireworks seemed to have gone off. None of them are still here and I can tell that all of them ignited.”

“But I remember his show last night. He tried to spell ‘GOODNIGHT’ in the air, but a letter was missing.”

Carrie frowns softly and stands up again. “Well, maybe he miscounted how many fireworks he had. There’s nothing here that suggests one failed to go off.”

Strange...Axel might be a scatterbrain, but just like Carrie, I don’t expect him to make such simple mistakes in relation to his talent. So what’s really going on here..?

**Truth Bullet Obtained: Missing Firework**

_One of Axel’s fireworks for his show is seemingly missing._

“Actually, do you mind explaining the setup more?” I ask. “Preferably, when you were working on it and who was with you?”

“You want an alibi,” Carrie sighs. “Fine. Axel came to me asking for help around noon that day. He’d gotten the fireworks set up, but he wanted to hook them to the control panel here and didn’t know how. I got it working functionally by 1 pm. I had him and the girl there breathing down my neck the entire time, though. I would have gotten it done faster otherwise, but it was still within schedule.”

**Truth Bullet Obtained: Carrie’s Account**

_Carrie had been enlisted by Axel to help him set up his fireworks at noon. She was done by 1 pm that same day, with Axel and Melody spending a lot of that time with her._

“Oh, Carrie, what a cute little toolbox!” Melody sings. “Do you mind if I--”

“Don’t!” Melody tried to touch the box, but Carrie smacked her hand away before she could. It made the librarian flinch back with a startled yelp.

“Waaah, I was just curious!” Melody whines. “Vanessa, help me!”

“Don’t touch other people’s things,” I sigh, putting a hand to my head.

“Et tu..?” Melody pouts, her shoulder slumping.

I led Melody away before she could do something else to upset Carrie. It didn’t seem like anything else was in the room, so we decided to go to the library next.

In the room, we found nothing out of place. However, Adam was seated at one of the tables, casually flipping through a book.

“Is now really the time to be reading?” I ask him.

“Yes, now seems like the perfect time,” Adam responds casually.

I roll my eyes and get to work on investigation, just in case there was something I was missing from a cursory glance. However, I don’t find much. Unfortunately, it seems like Melody was getting distracted because she’d gone over to Adam now, too.

“Are you a fan of Dawson’s work?” Melody asks. “He’s an Ultimate just like us, you know! He’s tackled just about every genre there is! I absolutely adore his writing!”

“Dawson?” I ask, finally walking over to them.

“Ah, Jeremiah Dawson! He’s the Ultimate Author! Adam’s reading one of his books now, _Mayview Massacre!_ It’s like if a slasher movie was written into a novel! Characters are being killed off one by one by a masked assailant in Mayview, Colorado and the main character has to figure out who it is while staying alive!”

“That’s all fascinating, but does it actually have anything to do with the _real_ murder at hand?”

Adam snaps the book closed. “I just had a moment of deja vu, so I wanted to remedy it. That’s all.” He stands up, tucking the book under his arm. “I’ll see you all in the trial.” With that, he walks out of the room.

“Huh...that was weird...” Melody murmurs.

It was weird. It sounds like he knew something that he wasn’t telling us. Something about that book...

**Truth Bullet Obtained: Mayview Massacre**

_A book written by the Ultimate Author, it’s a murder mystery with slasher themes. Adam took interest in it for the case._

We left the library again, venturing back to the commons. We were out of rooms to explore without breaking into bedrooms, but there wasn’t a lot that seemed important with them. Besides that, we likely didn’t have the time to search all sixteen of them for anything.

On our way there, we happened to run into Xavier. He still looked a little distressed, but that all washed away into a smile once he saw us approaching. “Ah, hello there~ Has your investigation been going well?”

“Y-Yeah...” Melody stammers, already blushing. I roll my eyes.

“You’re helping, right? Don’t expect us to carry your weight just because you’re pretty,” I respond.

Xavier’s smile shrinks back a little. “I wouldn’t dream of such a thing~ In fact, I was actually hoping to ask you a question about Daniella.”

I pause for a moment before saying, “I’m listening.”

“I wanted to know if either of you had noticed something strange about how she was behaving lately. I remember seeing her stalking around a bit yesterday, like she was doing something she shouldn’t be.”

That...wouldn’t surprise me at all about someone like her. But it does sound familiar. “Actually, I recall that she wanted to meet with someone yesterday. It seemed like she was waiting for someone to show up before dinner.”

“Huh...I wonder what she was doing then...” Xavier muses.

**Truth Bullet Obtained: Daniella’s Strange Behavior**

_Daniella was poorly hiding something she was doing. It involved meeting with a specific person._

The two of us continue on our way, walking into the commons. “Ah, Vanessa, Melody.” Alejandria looked our way as we entered the room. “I have something important to share with the two of you.”

“Oh, really? What is it?” Melody asks.

“I had the idea to check Daniella’s handbook. I assumed the motive might pertain to this case, so I tried using her thumb to get access to it.”

Well, she certainly had my interest now. “What did you find?”

“Nothing, I’m afraid. I tried every single finger, but the handbook never registered it as the owner. I never got into it.”

“Huh...that’s strange. Maybe Sgt. Al shuts them off or something when people die,” Melody suggests.

“Perhaps...but it seems odd to me. I thought I’d let you both know.”

**Truth Bullet Obtained: Daniella’s Handbook**

_Alejandria attempted to access Daniella’s handbook, but none of her fingerprints seemed to work._

We’d already combed through the entire building now. People were beginning to gather in the commons, but I couldn’t think of much to ask anyone that wasn’t outright questioning if they’re the killer. That line of questioning wasn’t going to get me anywhere, though. It wasn’t too long later, though, when...

“All prisoners, report IMMEDIATELY to the commons! The trial is beginning!” Sgt. Al’s voice says from over the intercom system. The last of the stragglers enter the commons.

“I don’t see any kind of trial set up,” Axel says. “Oh, oh! Is it invisible?!”

“Don’t be stupid,” Javier demands. “This is clearly a well-laid trap for us all!”

Carrie sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose. “He’s likely going to reveal the way there for us in a moment.”

Sure enough, after a few more moments, the tiled floor in front of us drops down into a staircase, revealing a door at the bottom for us all to enter.

“Has...that been there the whole time?” Xavier asks.

“That explains why the floor sounded so strange to walk on...” Super Cat muses.

“I sense a dark energy emanating from this space,” Madame Ruby says, her smile thin. “Whatever awaits us, it will not be pleasant.”

“Then let’s try to get through it as quickly as possible,” Neil huffs.

We all make our way down the stairs and enter the door at the bottom, which leads into a large elevator. Once the fifteen of us have entered, the entire box shudders and begins to travel down, taking us deeper into the earth.

This was it. Someone had finally killed. Someone standing in this very room, in fact. The air is heavy with suspicion and distrust. One of us was a murderer. One of us had killed someone else to escape and protect themselves. In the end, it was us against them, and I wasn’t going to let them stand in my way!

The elevator eventually comes to a stop and the doors open, letting us all enter the trial room. This would determine who would live and who would die. Our first class trial has begun..!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to put the truth bullets down here from now on, rather than in their own chapter. I think that'll be more convenient and less confusing.
> 
> \----
> 
> Trail 1 Truth Bullets
> 
> Truth Bullet: MonoFile #1  
> Monofile #1  
> The victim of this case is Daniella Hawthorne, the Ultimate Band Leader. Daniella was found in the indoor garden, decapitated. Several shards of glass have impaled the body. The cause of death is excessive blood loss. The body was discovered by Vanessa, Super Cat, and Madame Ruby.
> 
> Truth Bullet: Daniella’s Body  
> Daniella is sat on a bench, decapitated from the shoulders. Her upper torso, as well as her hands, are stained in dry blood. She’s covered in glass. Her head was laying at her feet, her face frozen in an expression of shock and fear.
> 
> Truth Bullet: Glass Shard  
> A large, bloody shard of glass was sitting in Daniella’s lap.
> 
> Truth Bullet: Explosion  
> There was a loud explosion as soon as Super Cat, Madame Ruby, and I entered the garden this morning. It caused the glass ceiling to shatter.
> 
> Truth Bullet: Matches  
> Three matches are sitting in a flowerbed in the garden. One of them has been used.
> 
> Truth Bullet: Movie Night  
> Axel and Melody orchestrated a movie night to take place last night after dinner. We watched three movies together. Axel also worked with Carrie to set up a small fireworks show that night, but some of the fireworks never went off.
> 
> Truth Bullet: Movie Night Attendance  
> Vanessa, Melody, Axel, Carrie, Shimo, Javier, Alejandria, Adam, Xavier, Madame Ruby, Jaida, and Super Cat attended the movie night. Carrie, Adam, and Xavier left before the third movie started.
> 
> Truth Bullet: Vanessa’s Testimony  
> Vanessa was in the kitchen right after dinner making snacks for half an hour. Melody was with her for about half of that time. Vanessa went directly to the auditorium afterward.
> 
> Truth Bullet: Missing Knife  
> One of the knives is missing from the rack in the kitchen.
> 
> Truth Bullet: Nighttime Rule  
> The garden and kitchen are locked once the nighttime announcement plays. The auditorium had also been locked that night.
> 
> Truth Bullet: Auditorium Lights  
> It’s nearly pitch black in the auditorium when the lights are turned off. It would be difficult for someone to leave the room unnoticed this way, since the doors would let in notable light.
> 
> Truth Bullet: Missing Firework  
> One of Axel’s fireworks for his show is seemingly missing.
> 
> Truth Bullet: Carrie’s Account  
> Carrie had been enlisted by Axel to help him set up his fireworks at noon. She was done by 1 pm that same day, with Axel and Melody spending a lot of that time with her.
> 
> Truth Bullet: Mayview Massacre  
> A book written by the Ultimate Author, it’s a murder mystery with slasher themes. Adam took interest in it for the case.
> 
> Truth Bullet: Daniella’s Strange Behavior  
> Daniella was poorly hiding something she was doing. It involved meeting with a specific person.
> 
> Truth Bullet: Daniella’s Handbook  
> Alejandria attempted to access Daniella’s handbook, but none of her fingerprints seemed to work.


	9. Chapter 1: No Crimes Are Created Equal - Deadly Life Trial Part I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The trial of Daniella Hawthorne's death has begun. Someone out there is her killer, and Vanessa is going to stop at nothing to find out who. Above all else, she refuses to die in this game.

We entered the trial room, a large facility built to resemble the prison above us. Cold concrete walls surround us, with the only warmth coming from the lights above. Chains hang from the ceiling as well, rattling in the air anytime someone accidentally brushed by one. Sixteen podiums sat in a circle in the middle of the room made of cold, gray steel with wooden tops. Sgt. Al was sitting at a large desk on the other side of the room with a nameplate on it. He was protected with two large guns on either side of him aimed at the rest of us.

The podiums were set up in a certain order: clockwise, it goes me, Teddy, Carrie, Javier, Alejandria, Madame Ruby, Jaida, Melody, Super Cat, Velma, Adam, Neil, Shimo, Daniella, Axel, and Xavier. However, standing at Daniella’s podium was a portrait about her height. Her image was in black and white and crossed out with two music notes painted on.

We all take our places at our podiums. Some people were giving uneasy glances to Daniella’s podium.

“Now that you’re all here, it’s time for me to properly explain the rules of the class trial!” Sgt. Al rumbles from his seat. “In the class trial, all of you will be debating to decide which of you is the blackened of this case! Once you’ve come to a consensus, I’ll start voting time and ONE of you little maggots is going to be selected as the blackened by majority rule! If you voted correctly, then I’ll be punishing the blackened! If you voted incorrectly, I’m punishing the rest of you!”

“And just for clarification,” Xavier asks, “punishment is..?”

“ _Execution_.”

“...right...got it...”

“Then we just have to find the killer, everyone! We can do this!” Melody says.

“We don’t have many leads, though...” Jaida points out. “Like, how are we supposed to accuse people if we don’t know who to accuse?”

“Oh, I know!” Axel says. “Who wants to be accused first? Raise your hand and we’ll start badgering you immediately!”

“That’s a stupid idea,” Velma retorts.

“What we need to do is start discussing the evidence and--” Alejandria began to explain, but her face quickly deadpanned. “Axel, put your hand down.”

“Aw...” Axel’s hand droops to his side and his shoulders slump.

I sigh and put a hand to my temple. This is going to be a long, _long_ trial...

“As I was saying,” the knight continues, “what we need to be doing is discuss the evidence we’ve collected and use it to form conclusions about the case. From there, we should be able to narrow down suspects.”

“So what should we start with in this case?” Super Cat asks. “Are there any big mysteries we should try to tackle?”

“Maybe we should start smaller,” Adam advises. “A simple question can often snowball into a much bigger answer.”

“We should start by laying out a potential murder weapon,” Velma says. “That should lead us to the truth.”

Everyone seemed to be in agreement with the idea. That meant that our trial was officially beginning. And like _hell_ I’m going to let them all take over the conversation and assume they’ll solve this case. I might not be a detective, but all this is is applying facts and logic with the evidence we’ve gathered. There’s one true answer here, one that has to be possible to reach. I’ll make sure we get there, no matter what. I will survive and the killer will die.

[NON-STOP DEBATE]

“A murder weapon, huh..?” Axel ponders. “I don’t think I actually saw anything like that around the scene!”

“Well, it could be somewhere else,” Teddy suggests. “It would be really suspicious to just leave weapon lying around.”

“We can make some inferences,” Adam suggests. “For instance, the weapon would have to be **sharp** to leave Mistress Hawthorne...well, in the state she’s in.”

“There aren’t that many sharp objects around, though,” Neil points out.

“Then...Then the answer sounds fairly obvious, doesn’t it?” Javier asks. “One of you murderers must have used a **knife to remove her head!** ”

A knife...to remove her head? Something about that doesn’t sound right when considering the evidence!

**LOAD Truth Bullet: Bloody Glass**

“NO, YOU’RE WRONG!”

“A-Aaaaah!” Javier jumps in place with a pitiful yell. “Don’t kill me!”

“Javier, she’s not--” Alejandria stops herself with a sigh and looks my direction. “Do you have something that contradicts his statement, Vanessa?”

“I do, in fact. While we were investigating, Melody took note of a large piece of glass in Daniella’s lap. It had her blood on it.”

“Oh, that’s right!” Melody says. “It was actually kind of scary...b-but she’s telling the truth!”

“More importantly, it seemed fresh--as if the glass had just been used. I believe that it can be labeled as what ended up decapitating her.”

“Hm...curious...” Madame Ruby muses. “There’s an interesting fact about all of that glass that will certainly paint things in a new light, if that’s the conclusion you wish to make.”

“Ah, what are you talking about, Madame Ruby?” Teddy asks.

“First, a question. Did anyone else hear the explosion this morning?”

“Yeah, we did,” Jaida says. “We were all eating breakfast when it went off! A bunch of the others ducked under the tables!”

“Don’t talk like you didn’t do the same,” Carrie chides. “You were even beginning to cr--”

“That’s! Not important. I answered the question, so there,” Jaida huffs.

“That explosion is what caused the glass,” Madame Ruby continues to explain. “It happened when Super Cat, Vanessa, and I entered the garden. Whatever it was, it was rigged to cause the glass ceiling to shatter.”

“Then...we have a problem, don’t we?” Neil asks. “If that glass is what was used to decapitate Daniella, but it only existed moments before she was found...”

“Ah, I see what you’re saying!” Melody chirps. “And...yeah, that is really weird...”

“Then there’s only one clear answer!” Axel declares.

I can sense another discussion is coming on. The only issue with that is Axel is easily one of the biggest morons here, and I don’t trust any conclusion he’s about to make.

[NON-STOP DEBATE]

“What is the answer, Mister Axel?” Teddy asks.

“...and please...make sure it’s well thought out...” Shimo pleas.

“I promise, this answer makes all of the sense!” Axel declares.

“Dear lord...” Carrie sighs, placing a hand to her face.

“Hey, don’t speak to me like that! I swear, what I’m going to say is gonna make more sense than anything else you’ve ever heard before!”

“Just get on with it,” Velma mumbles.

“Oh, right! I was gonna say, it must mean that Daniella was decapitated **before** the glass fell! That glass had to come from somewhere else!”

Well, that went exactly where I expected it to. Axel’s conclusion sounds possible, but it’s demonstrably false because of...

**LOAD Truth Bullet: Daniella’s Body**

“NO, YOU’RE WRONG!”

“Woah!” Axel yelps. “Your voice has some serious bite to it! Oh, oh, teach me how to do that! It’s sooo cool!”

“That aside, what’s wrong with his suggestion?” Madame Ruby asks, her smile thin. “It sounded correct to me.”

“But it’s not when you consider how Daniella’s corpse looked. Think about the glass that had rained down, and everything becomes clearer,” I say.

“The glass...I remember it being impaled in her body and covering her lap...” Super Cat says, his voice uncharacteristically soft.

“...ah,” Adam exclaims softly. “I see now. You’re not talking about just her body, are you? You also mean her head.”

“That’s right. Daniella’s head was laying on the ground, presumably due to her decapitation. However, I don’t recall her head being as...decorated as the rest of her body was,” I explain.

“Now that you mention it, I recall that as well,” Velma muses softly. “If her head was already decapitated, it should have been covered in glass like everything else in the room.”

“Then...Then she was decapitated afterward?” Teddy squeaks.

“No, she couldn’t have been!” Super Cat declares. “There was no one else in the room when we entered and her head was already...” He trails off for just a moment, a small shudder making his broad shoulders shake. “...when we found her.”

“Then the only answer left is that she had been decapitated by the falling glass,” I say. “That large shard, in particular, must have been enough to do the job.”

“But there’s no way the killer could have predicted that glass alone would kill her,” Carrie says. “Her being decapitated like that was by complete random chance.”

“But that’s just the thing--that _was_ by chance,” Xavier points out. “It’s very likely all the killer really cared about was the glass killing her period. This just happened to work in their favor. You saw all the glass sticking out of her, right? She likely wouldn’t have survived that anyway.”

“But now we have a new issue,” Alejandria says. “Why would Daniella simply sit there and let the glass fall on her? She didn’t notice the killer setting up an explosive of some kind, at the very least?”

“Hm...maybe we should decide what the explosive was, then,” Melody suggests. “That way, we can figure out if Daniella should have noticed something or not!”

I’m not letting another pointless discussion begin. I know I can figure this out just by thinking it through myself. There are only so many options to pick from, after all. The explosive must be...

[MAKE A SELECTION]

>Firework

>Homemade bomb

>Gun

_... >Firework _

“That’s the answer!”

“The thing that had to set off the explosion was a firework!” I declare.

“...like the ones that Axel set off last night..?” Shimo asks gently.

“Aw, you guys set off fireworks last night..?” Teddy pouts. “I wish we could have gone...”

Neil huffs through his nose. “I did warn you, Teddy! All you had to do was keep your grubby mitts off of sweets for the day and we could go, but you didn’t!”

“It was just a candy apple!” the strongman whines.

“...that aside,” I say after a moment, “it seems like the most logical answer is that one of Axel’s fireworks was used to create the explosion we heard today.”

“Hm...the sound was the same as last night,” Super Cat agrees. “It left my ears ringing the same way.”

I nod in agreement. “Someone must have stolen one of them from--”

“Such insolence will not be tolerated!” Javier cries out, cutting me off.

I frown, my eye twitching a little. I shoot the prince a dark glare. “What the hell are you doing?”

Javier squeaks softly under my gaze, but does his best to steel his resolve. “I...I think you’re wrong! That’s what I’m doing! And I’ll prove it to everyone, plebeian!”

Great, His Royal Ass wants to act big and strong for once in his pathetic life. I’m not afraid of him, and if he knows what’s good for him, he’ll back down before he makes a complete clown of himself. If he doesn’t, I’m fully prepared to shut him up myself.

[CROSS SWORDS IMMINENT]

/ _“I’ll admit, that the fireworks are the most likely cause of the explosion we heard.”_ /

/ _“But don’t you think you’re drawing the wrong conclusion from that?”_ /

/ _“Obviously,_ **_the fire starter himself_ ** _must be the one who set up such a contraption!”_ /

**LOAD Truth Sword: Movie Night**

“Javier, you’d know this if you’re awake, but there’s one reason Axel couldn’t have set up the firework himself. At the very least, we know exactly where it came from.”

**[ADVANCE!]**

/ _“Don’t be so ridiculous! I know exactly what I’m talking about, fool!”_ /

/ _“The fire starter must be the one who set up the bomb, they do belong to him after all.”_ /

/ _“Therefore,_ **_the firework came from his room_ ** _, or he simply made it for the occasion! Nothing more!”_ /

**LOAD Truth Sword: Movie Night**

“I’LL CUT DOWN YOUR WORDS!”

“A-AAAAH!” Javier jumps in place again, standing in a defensive stance. “Stop screaming at me, you barbarian!”

“Stop saying stupid things,” I bite back. “As I tried to say before, it’s obvious where the firework came from, something you’d have known if you stayed awake. During the movie night, Axel attempted to spell out ‘GOODNIGHT’ in the air with his fireworks. However, the T was missing from the word.”

“Yeah, it was a total letdown!” Axel demands. “Carrie set up the whole thing wrong!”

“I didn’t set up anything wrong,” Carrie responds without looking up. “You likely made a faulty firework. Or you just miscounted.”

“Hey! I don’t make amateur mistakes like that!”

“Well, you certainly act like one. Besides, I don’t make mistakes either. So the fault must lie with you.”

“Nu uh! You messed up my show!”

“You messed up your own show.”

“I did not!”

“Yes, you did.”

“Both of you!” Melody huffs. “Stop fighting! I think what Vanessa is trying to say is that the killer stole the firework from the setup.”

Both Carrie and Axel fall silent for a few seconds.

“Uh, duh, I totally knew that!” Axel deflects.

“I told you, I don’t make mistakes,” Carrie repeats.

I sigh softly and rub my head. _Keep it together, Vanessa. Just a little while longer..._

“So someone stole one of Axel’s fireworks...” Velma muses.

“How long had they been set up for?”

“I had them done by 1 pm,” Carrie explains. “I’d been working on them for an hour with Axel and the girl.”

“Don’t you remember my name already..?” Melody sighs.

“Did anyone else know about their existence?” Neil asks. “So far, it sounds like the three of you are our most likely suspects.”

“We didn’t tell anyone, as far as I’m aware!” Melody says. “Axel made it super clear it was going to be a big surprise!”

“At the same time, it wouldn’t be difficult for someone to stumble onto them by chance,” Carrie interjects. “While we might seem the most likely, we’re not the only suspects.”

“A firework is easy enough to transport, but are we suggesting that Daniella didn’t hear it going off?” Alejandria asks. “In fact, she was still sitting on the bench when the glass hit her. She didn’t try to move, just sit there and gawk? It seems strange.”

“She definitely seemed awake from the look on her face,” Adam agrees. “So I doubt she was drugged or knocked out in any way.”

“She wasn’t bound in any way, either,” Javier adds. “It seems like there was nothing to keep her there at all.”

“We know for a fact she had to be decapitated in that moment,” I say. “Something must have been holding her there to let it happen.”

“But what option do we have left?” Teddy asks with a frown.

...what option _did_ we have left? There must be an answer out there somewhere. I just need to think it through...

[PSYCHE TAXI]

How was Daniella decapitated?

_ >The killer used a knife. _

_ >Glass shards that fell from the ceiling. _

_ >It was ripped off by brute force. _

**_... >Glass shards that fell from the ceiling._ **

Could Daniella have been awake or aware when the glass fell?

_ >Yes, she was simply incapacitated. _

_ >Yes, she just didn’t care. _

_ >No, she would have tried to move. _

**_> No, she would have tried to move._ **

Was anything done to Daniella to keep her from moving?

_ >Yes. _

_ >No. _

_ >We don’t know. _

**_> Yes._ **

What happened to Daniella before the glass fell?

_ >She was drugged and left on the bench. _

> _She was already dead._

_ >The killer convinced her to stay there. _

**>** **_She was already dead._ **

“I reached the conclusion!”

“Hm? Vanessa, you thought of something?” Melody asks.

“I think I did. Daniella was undoubtedly decapitated by the falling glass. However, we’re in agreement that nothing was binding her to the bench and it’s unlikely she was drugged or unconscious since she seemed awake and aware.”

“Yeah, we already talked about all of that,” Javier demands. “Is this going somewhere?”

“What I’m saying is, if nothing was binding Daniella to the bench but she had to be there when she was decapitated, then the only answer left is...she was dead before the glass exploded.”

“What?!” Jaida yelps. “Dude, that’s insane! You guys JUST found her!”

“That’s right!” Neil agrees. “Daniella was discovered only this morning! How is it that it took so long to find her body?”

“Well, when’s the last time anyone’s seen her?” Xavier asks.

“I spoke with her at dinner,” Carrie says. “She’d mentioned coming to the movie night, but she never arrived.”

“Dinner last time I saw Miss Daniella, too...” Teddy murmurs.

“Did anyone see where she went afterward?” Super Cat asks. But no one ends up responding.

“Oh, wait!” Melody says, jumping up. “I remember Daniella coming to the auditorium during the intermission of the first movie. Ah, but she ended up not wanting to watch them with us, so she left pretty quickly...”

“She did?” Adam asks. “Then she must have still been alive while we were all watching the movies...”

“That’s still a wide margin. There must be some way to narrow down when Daniella died further,” Velma grumbles gently.

“If there is, we can figure it out together!” Melody declares.

[NON-STOP DEBATE]

“We know that Daniella had to be alive between **the end of the first movie in the movie night** and up to **being found during breakfast** ,” Adam says.

“That’s nearly a 10-hour gap!” Melody gasps.

“Well, we just need to find a time frame that she couldn’t have been killed in,” Madame Ruby suggests. “Simple, yes?”

“Uh, no!” Jaida replies. “There’s the whole rest of the movie night it coulda happened!”

“Well, yes, but what about afterward?”

“I didn’t watch you guys go to bed! It could have been those nighttime guards, too! Maybe they worked together or something!”

“We’re discussing time frames, not culprits!” Super Cat demands.

“Same difference! Point is, there was a point at **any time at night** that she coulda been killed!”

Any time at night...no, something about this all is blatantly incorrect!

**LOAD Truth Bullet: Nighttime Rule**

“NO, YOU’RE WRONG!”

“Dude!” Jaida huffs at my direction, but she pauses for a second. “...you seriously gotta show me how to do that, too. Before Axel, preferably!”

I roll my eyes. “It’s not possible for Daniella to have been killed during most of the night. Remember, after the nighttime announcement plays, several areas lock. Sgt. Al told us that includes the garden and kitchen.”

“...ah...and we found the body in the garden...” Shimo murmurs calmly.

“There’s no way the body could have been killed during nighttime and transported to the garden, so it’s unlikely Daniella’s body was never anywhere else,” I explain. “Neil wakes up every day at 6 am, so if the body was left at the door to wait, he would have seen it.”

“That’s right!” Neil barks. “There was no body, though! No blood, no smell, nothing! I greeted the two night guards as I went to the auditorium with Teddy but...I found it locked...”

“We had to do our morning routine in the commons,” Teddy agrees. “So there no way we could have missed something going on before everyone wake up.”

“I had to listen to Neil’s whistle for a whole hour while he yelled at poor Teddy Bear...” Axel whines. “It was total misery...”

“...I got to introduce them to meditation...” Shimo mumbles.

“Then the only times Daniella could have been killed is some time during the second and third movie or as soon as the day began!” Super Cat says. “That’s...not a lot of time, actually.”

“So it’s either during a time where most of us were occupied or all of us are potential suspects,” Xavier sighs, arms crossed over his chest.

“We’ve been discussing the possibility of Daniella being killed before the glass fell on her, but...how did she die?” Melody asks. “I mean, she didn’t have any other injuries beforehand, did she..?”

“No, none that I could discover,” Alejandria says. “I did as thorough of a search as I could on the body for a more complete autopsy report. All injuries are a result of glass falling onto her.”

Melody frowns, clearly dissatisfied with that answer. “Then how are we sure she actually died first? If we don’t even know what killed her...I just don’t think we can make a claim like that!”

[NON-STOP DEBATE]

“She had to have died before the glass fell, there’s no evidence to suggest **anything else stopped her** ,” Velma argues.

“But none of her current injuries were sustained any time before the falling of the glass,” Alejandria reminds.

“Hm...” Melody rubs her chin. “We could be wrong on the very premise. We could have just missed something!”

“Do you have any evidence to support that theory?” Velma retorts.

“Um...well...” Melody frowns, already losing that bit of spark.

“I mean, can’t we agree that the **decapitation is what killed her**?” Axel asks. “So, then we can agree that she was alive the whole time!”

Leave it to Axel to say only the most asinine of things. At the very least, I can work with his nonsense.

**LOAD Truth Bullet: Monofile #1**

“NO, YOU’RE WRONG!”

“Agh, critical hit!” Axel cries out dramatically.

“He’s wrong? But Daniella sustained no other injuries that could have killed her faster than the decapitation,” Alejandria says. “It seems like the most logical conclusion.”

“But that’s not what the Monofile reports,” I respond. “Daniella’s reported cause of death was excessive blood loss. The decapitation was a footnote comparatively.”

“But what are we left with?” Neil asks. “If it wasn’t the decapitation, but she didn’t sustain any other injuries...”

“...what makes us so sure she didn’t sustain any other injuries..?” Shimo asks, tilting his head.

“I checked quite thoroughly,” Alejandria assures.

“...I’m sure you did...but as a ninja, it’s not uncommon for my clan to use more covert methods when it comes to something like assassination...one such act would include obscuring the cause of death through other injuries to make it appear more natural...”

“You mean to imply that the killer of this case did something similar?” Velma asks.

“...well...I thought I would say it outright but...you beat me to it...”

“But haven’t we talked about this already?” Carrie asks. “How could the killer predict what the falling glass would do to Daniella’s body?”

“Maybe they wouldn’t have to guess...” I muse softly.

“Ah, do you have a suggestion you’d like to present, Huang-san?” Madame Ruby asks.

I think I did. There is one method of murder that could end Daniella’s life and make her more susceptible to the glass. The killer would just have to cut open her...

[MAKE A SELECTION]

>Arms

>Chest

>Throat

_... >Throat _

“That’s the answer!”

“Oh, good! You do!” Madame Ruby smiles pleasantly and clasps her hands together. “Share it with the rest of us, if you would be so inclined.”

...I didn’t like her tone, but I’ll ignore it for now. “If there’s anywhere that the killer would have to strike, it would have to be...Daniella’s throat!”

“Oh, I see!” Jaida says. “We wouldn’t be able to notice anything wrong with her throat if it’s been lobbed off with the rest of her head, right?”

“But there’s still no way to ensure that the glass would _actually_ do something like that,” Carrie reminds. “The cracks would be impossible to assume, so there’s no guarantee.”

“There wouldn’t have to be a guarantee,” Adam says. “The killer would have hacked their way through her neck as much as they’d want to ensure it’d get knocked off later. Or, simply assume that single injury would be applied to the glass like the rest. It’s not about the particular end result we got, but rather the confusion an event like that would create.”

“Not to mention, something like that would be impossible for us to miss regardless, given the sound!” Super Cat declares. “Even if we hadn’t gone looking around beforehand, that explosion would have drawn our attention! It would ensure we'd find the body after the damage was done!”

“Speaking of which, what _were_ you guys doing at the garden?” Melody asks. “I remember Vanessa and Super Cat standing by the door in the cafeteria for a while, then you both left when Madame Ruby came in.”

“Ah, I requested their assistance,” Madame Ruby says. “I had sensed quite the disturbance with the spirit world, so I wanted the two of them to aid me in exploration.”

“Um...wait, hold on,” Teddy says with a frown. “We found out that Miss Daniella’s throat was slashed...but with what? We all said that the murder weapon was glass shard, but now we are saying she died before that, so...”

“...so we haven’t discovered the true murder weapon,” Neil finishes. He crosses his arms, eyes closed with a tight frown on his face. After a few moments, his eyes snap open and he blows into his whistle. “Alright! Then our next course of action is to discover the true murder weapon!”

“You seriously had to think to come to that conclusion?” Carrie asks.

“Quite! We have a discussion to get to, so let’s get to it!” Neil barks out.

[NON-STOP DEBATE]

“We need to find the true murder weapon for this case!” Neil declares.

“Why do you have to keep screaming..?” Velma all but snarls.

“Hm...well, it couldn’t have been the **glass shards** ,” Javier muses. “Those only came after Daniella’s death.”

“That doesn’t leave a lot of sharp objects, though,” Melody comments.

“It can’t really be such an obvious answer, can it?” Jaida asks.

“Sometimes the most obvious answer is the correct one,” Madame Ruby explains with a wide smile. “After all, **the kitchen knives** would make for an excellent weapon.”

Something sharp had to be used to kill Daniella. Something around the facility matches that description to a T.

**LOAD Truth Bullet: Missing Knife**

“I THINK SO, TOO!”

“Ah, Huang-san, you agree then? A knife is our murder weapon?” Madame Ruby’s grin stretches thin and she giggles into her sleeve.

I nod once. “I do. While investigating, I discovered that one of the kitchen knives was missing from its rack. I don’t remember it being that way when I had been preparing dinner.”

Xavier frowns softly. “Now that you mention it, I think I remember one of the knives being missing this morning...I didn’t pay it too much mind since I was trying to cook for everyone, but it was definitely gone.”

“Does...that mean the killer still has it on them..?” Jaida asks, trying not to show her sudden fear.

“...hm, that could be problematic,” I mumble to myself. I cross my arms and click my tongue. “No, actually, the killer wouldn’t stand to gain something if they struck during the trial. We should be fine.”

“But what if they’re standing right next to me?!” Jaida demands. “I don’t wanna get shanked!”

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to protect everyone! If I see any strange movements, I’ll apprehend the culprit in an instant!” Super Cat declares bravely.

“The killer was certainly moving around a lot,” Carrie comments, scanning something intently on her tablet. “Stolen firework, stolen knife, killing Daniella...ah, wait. When did that happen, exactly? We didn’t narrow it down.”

“Ah, that’s right!” Melody says. “We agreed she either had to die during the movies or right after the morning began...but which one is it?”

“Ah...hm...we don’t have a time of death in the Monofile...” Velma frowns, drumming her fingers on her podium. Her head snaps in the direction of the gator. “Care to explain..?”

“What?” Sgt. Al whines. “I gave you all the information you’re allowed to have. If I didn’t include something, it’s because you can’t have it. Don’t get greedy, maggots! Be thankful for what you’ve got!”

“We’re not _allowed_ to have it?” I ask. “What reason is there for that? It sounds like you’re withholding evidence.”

“If I just GAVE it to you, then the trial would be UNFAIR!” the gator sneers at us. “Quit bellyaching and GET BACK TO ARGUING!”

“The trial would be unfair...does that mean knowing the time Daniella died is something so vital, we’d figure out the killer with ease?” I shake my head, leaning on my podium with a frown. “That’s all the more reason we need to place her time of death, then. It must be possible to deduce, so let’s figure it out.”

[NON-STOP DEBATE]

“We have two options for when Daniella could have been killed,” Adam says. “Either sometime during the movie night or directly after the morning announcement.”

“People would be walking right out of their rooms and to the cafeteria this morning,” Jaida says. “It’d be **easy to miss someone** if they took a detour to the garden!”

“But **most of us** were sitting in the auditorium during movie night,” Melody says. “That’s a lot fewer people to have to worry about!”

“The killer clearly took a lot of risks for this motive,” Alejandria says. “So I don’t see that being a deterrent for their plans.”

“...is there really **no way to tell the time** of the murder..?” Shimo asks gently.

We have two choices at our hands. Even if no one saw the murder, something about it should tell us a more complete story!

**LOAD Truth Bullet: Daniella’s Body**

“NO, YOU’RE WRONG!”

Shimo looks in my direction, barely even reacting to my words. “...ah, I see...”

“Wait, I know what Vanessa is gonna say!” Axel declares. “Daniella’s wearing a watch we’ve never noticed before and it broke the moment she died, so we can use it to tell the time!”

“Do you enjoy it?” Carrie asks. “Making an ass of yourself all the time? Is that fun for you?”

“What I was going to say,” I carry on, “is that Daniella is caked in blood--”

“No shit, Sherlock!” Jaida cuts in.

“...and the blood is _dry_ ,” I add. “As in, it must have been sitting there for a while. If she had been killed this morning, all of that blood should still be fresh.”

“That’s true...I don’t recall seeing any blood anywhere besides the body,” Xavier comments. “So...I think it’s safe to say Daniella was sitting right there on the bench when she died.”

“We can look at her hands for further proof. They’re caked in the same dry blood. If Daniella had her throat slashed, I’d imagine her first instinct would be to put her hands at her throat to stop the bleeding. If all of that blood on her body is dried, it must mean it all got there at the same time--last night, during the initial attack!”

“Then...Daniella died while the rest of us were watching movies...” Melody murmurs softly. Her head dips, a frown forming on her face. “That’s...so horrible...”

“But it narrows down our suspect list, doesn’t it?” Madame Ruby asks. “We now have a select group of people we can assume are no longer involved in this case.”

Is that so..? That group of people would involve...

[MAKE A SELECTION]

>Carrie’s Account

>Vanessa’s Account

>Movie Night Attendance

_... >Movie Night Attendance _

“That’s the answer!”

“Those of us that attended the movie night in full are no longer suspects, right?” I ask. “That would include...me, Melody, Alejandria, Javier, Jaida, Axel, Shimo, Super Cat, and you, Madame Ruby.”

“That’s just a little over half of us,” Jaida sniffs. “Not bad, not bad...I could have totally gotten us there sooner.”

“Then why didn’t you?” Alejandria deadpans.

“Aren’t you missing a few people?” Axel asks. “Adam, Carrie, and Xavier totally showed up last night, too!”

“We all left before the third movie, though,” Adam reminds. “That leaves all of us with plenty of time to have committed the crime.”

“...then our suspects lie with Carrie, Adam, Xavier, Neil, Theodore...and myself,” Velma mumbles out. “And while it may be presumptuous of a suspect to be pointing fingers...I’d like to make an accusation.”

“Already?” Javier asks. “Well, who is it then? I’d like for this trial to have concluded already!”

Velma’s cold gaze sweeps over all of us before finally centering in on a particular person. “...I think the killer is you, _Carrie_.”


	10. Chapter 1: No Crimes Are Created Equal - Deadly Life Trial Part II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The trial is reaching its climax and Vanessa makes a realization that shakes her down to her very core. But she made a promise to herself not to die here, and she won't be letting anyone stand in the way of that.

Carrie looks up from her tablet for the first time since the trial had begun, both eyebrows raised. “...excuse me?”

“Do I need to repeat myself?” Velma asks. “I’m accusing you, Carrie Mathers, the Ultimate Stage Technician, of murder. Clear enough for you?”

Carrie’s lip twitches, but she keeps her mildly annoyed expression. “I heard you perfectly clear. What I meant is on what basis are you accusing me?”

“Yeah, I mean, Carrie’s a little mean and grumpy sometimes, but she’s cool!” Axel says. “What’s she gotta do with this?”

“I can lay out my points more clearly if you’d like, but if the rest of you are actually paying attention to the trial, you’d say that what I’m saying makes perfect logical sense,” the poet goes on. Her voice had a bit more force behind it than usual. It was clear she was deathly serious about this.

[NON-STOP DEBATE]

“Several key points of this trial **line up perfectly** with accusing Carrie of murder,” Velma explains.

“Please, enlighten us, then,” Carrie snarks.

“First and foremost; the suspect list. It’s the most obvious piece of evidence, as it gives you a decent time frame to be suspicious.”

“Can’t the same also be said about **you?** ” Madame Ruby counters.

“Yes, however, there is something else about Carrie that is far more special. For instance, she is one of the few with **special knowledge** of the fireworks.”

Could Carrie be the killer? I can’t say with certainty, but...to find out, we’ll have to explore this avenue.

**LOAD Truth Bullet: Carrie’s Account**

“I THINK SO, TOO!”

“Hm.” Velma looks at me for a moment, then offers a small nod. “What would you like to say, Vanessa?”

“I want to corroborate your claim with what Carrie told me before,” I say. “She had been specially requested by Axel to install the firework show for that night. So, out of all of us here, she has not only the tools but the knowledge to remove them as she pleases for her own use.”

“That’s insane,” Carrie says in return. “Anyone could have removed the firework, it’s child’s play!”

“But you would be the most likely person to do so,” Velma responds. “You set them up yourself, so you had the most knowledge of them.”

“I was being watched by two other people the entire time! Axel and that girl were with me!”

“And both of them attended the movie night for the entire duration, according to everyone else.”

“What does that matter?” Carrie finally says. She takes a breath, trying to regain her waning composure. “There’s a simple solution here. If I really committed a murder, I would have scheduled it.”

There were several beats of silence in the trial room as Carrie made her declaration. Even Sgt. Al seemed unsure of what to say.

“...what?” Teddy finally asks.

Carrie holds up her tablet so all of us can see the screen. “I schedule my entire life as down to the minute as possible, so if I was intending to take part in any murders, I would have scheduled it.”

“You can’t seriously expect us to believe that, can you?” Javier demands. “You’re hardly even trying!”

Carrie frowns. “But I am trying. If I was going to kill someone, it would be in the schedule. As you can see, it’s not.”

“...even I don’t think I can take this at face value...” Shimo admits. “...you’ll have to try a bit harder than that, Mathers-san...”

“Why aren’t you all listening to me?” Carrie presses, becoming more frustrated. “It’s not in the schedule. I didn’t do it.”

“She definitely did it,” Jaida says.

Everyone is making an excellent point. You’d have to be completely insane to believe a defense like that at all...so I must have gone completely insane because I absolutely believe Carrie right now. I almost hate myself for wanting to agree with something as asinine as that, but I have to believe her. That’s just _exactly_ how she is. She would absolutely have fit murdering into her schedule and I can see, plain as day, she did no such thing. Which means...she’s not the murderer.

...and now I need to think of a _real_ reason she’s not the murderer so I can convince the others of it before we get ourselves killed over this.

“You know, a few other things start to fit together if we consider Carrie is the killer,” Xavier comments aloud. “For instance, we never did decide where that murder weapon went.”

“Wouldn’t the killer just hide it in their room?” Carrie says. “Why is that special to me above all else?”

“Actually!” Axel pipes up again. “No, because no one could have hidden it in their rooms! I made sure to check every single one of them!”

“You went into our rooms?!” Jaida demands. “How did you even do that?!”

“Sgt. Al let me in them for the investigation! He said, and I quote, ‘If I let you into the damn rooms will you stop screaming my name into the cameras on the walls?!’ And I lied and said yes!”

“What do you mean you _lied?!_ ” Sgt. Al snaps.

“Ah! You weren’t supposed to hear that part!”

“Regardless of that fact, that means the killer must still have the knife with them or hidden somewhere personal. Which does implicate Carrie,” Velma explains.

“How?!” Carrie demands. “What, do you want to frisk me right now? I don’t have a knife on me--why don’t we just frisk everyone?!”

“That won’t be necessary,” Super Cat assures. “I think I understand what they’re talking about now, too.”

What they’re talking about...somewhere the killer could have hidden the knife from the kitchen...somewhere that is specific to Carrie. I still need more time to think of a defense for her of some kind. They’re all in some kind of agreement here, so if I just say that Carrie could have hidden the knife _there_ , they’ll keep talking and I can think some more...

[HANGMAN’S GAMBIT]

T__l__x

Tool_ox

_Toolbox_

“I put it together!”

“If there’s anywhere Carrie could hide the knife without it being found, I’d suspect it be in her toolbox,” I explain. “Maybe someone can check it.” At least, I hope so. That’d easily end this discussion right here.

“I didn’t bring it with me...” Carrie mutters softly.

“I remember trying to look in it during the investigation,” Melody comments. “But Carrie wouldn’t let me...”

“I don’t like strangers going through my things like they have any right to it!” Carrie demands. “Which is why I’m going to be having a talk with _Axel_ about going into my room after this.”

Axel didn’t respond to that. Instead, his voice came out much softer. “Carrie did make sure to leave the movie night before the fireworks actually went off...”

“I didn’t want to watch a children’s movie! Besides, I had to get ready for bed, per the schedule!” She taps the screen of her tablet for emphasis.

“She has the same access to the knives as the rest of us. She could have grabbed it after leaving the auditorium, gotten to the garden with Daniella, and...” Xavier trails off with a worried frown. “Did she seriously do it..?”

“She was talking with Daniella during dinner, she...could have gotten her alone by telling her where to go...” Super Cat murmurs. “Daniella coming back to the auditorium could have been her checking for Carrie.”

“None of you are listening to me!” Carrie cries out desperately. “It’s not! In! The schedule! I wouldn’t commit murder if I didn’t schedule it!”

“...if I may,” Adam finally says. He had that same book out as before. I still don’t understand why, but he seems protective of it. “I wanted to ask everyone an important question that has come to mind, though it may seem like a mild tangent. Have any of you heard of the Bookworm Butcher?”

“The...who?” Alejandria frowns and crosses her arms. “Adam, what does this have to do with the case at hand?”

“I’ve heard the name...” Velma says softly. “They’re a serial killer, right?”

“Woah, seriously?! Don’t tell me you think there’s a serial killer involved in all of this!” Jaida demands. “That’s completely insane!”

“The Bookworm Butcher is a killer who leaves their marks by killing people in replications of murders from mystery novels,” Adam explains. “I just so happen to have with me a copy of _Mayview Massacre_ , a murder mystery novel about a slasher who picks off the residents of a small town to enact his revenge. And one of the murders in this book...”

“...you can’t possibly be telling us Daniella is mirroring a murder from this book,” Xavier says, “but you are, aren’t you?”

“That’s just a coincidence, right?” Melody asks. “Surely there’s been some mistake!”

Adam opens the book, looking down at it with his usual sharp gaze. “In chapter 21, one of the characters--the head singer of a local punk band--is killed during a 4th of July festival in the town. One of the fireworks is used to blow up the glass ceiling of a bar she works at, and the glass ends up decapitating her.” He closes the book again. “I find this to be a bit more than coincidence.”

“There can’t possibly be a serial killer here,” Velma says. “It must be a red herring or some pathetic excuse of a copycat.”

“...but we don’t really know why everyone was sent here,” Javier asks. “A-Any one of you could be...could be this butcher! We could have a serial killer here the whole time; cooking our food, spending time alone with us, planning and plotting to pick us off one by one! Which one of you is it?! Who?! Who is it?!”

Alejandria purses her lips, but her hand is resting on her dagger. “Javier, please, calm down. I’m sure it’s nothing that extreme.”

“Yeah, why would you just drop big bomb on us?!” Teddy demands, his face pale.

“It’s merely a note to make,” Adam advises. “As mentioned before, we don’t know why any of us are here. Our crimes could have any range of severity, and this was meant to be a highly professional facility meant for anything. So if a serial killer truly resides within our group...”

Madame Ruby giggles to herself. “My, oh my...I have to say, I’m inclined to believe Monroe-san. The air of this building has been simply dreadful since we stepped foot in. I thought before that, perhaps, Al-san had been the source of such an aura...but perhaps I underestimated those of us residing in the building.”

“So...you’re agreeing with Adam?” Jaida asks with a frown. She was sweating a little, her eyes flickering around.

“A serial killer...how did we get wrapped up into something even worse than before?!” Xavier demands.

“No, there’s no reason to fear!” Super Cat declares. “I told you before, I won’t let any harm come to you all during this trial! If someone is truly a...a-a serial killer, I’ll make sure they can’t lay a finger on any of you!”

“Don’t you all think you’re going a little too far with this now?” Melody finally asks. “A serial killer in the group...I just can’t believe something like that!”

“Furthermore, the accusation of Carrie has drastically risen,” Velma says. “If it’s true that this murder was the work of this Bookworm Butcher, that would mean Carrie would have to be that killer.”

“ _What?_ ” Carrie snaps. “So now you all want to accuse me of SERIAL murder? On what basis?!”

“Those would have to be the facts. You’re our most likely suspect, with no defense to speak of, and we’ve now been presented the strong possibility that this murder was carried out by a serial killer. I’m sure you can connect the dots?”

“But I gave you all my defense! You just ignored it!’

“I think you need to figure out what a defense is,” Jaida snides.

“There’s an easy way to solve this,” Neil says definitively. “We all just need to take out our handbooks and look at the crimes we got! Whoever has Carrie’s can confirm these suspicions!”

“...that’s actually a good idea, Corbin-san...” Shimo murmurs. “...it could even reveal if there is a serial killer among us or not...”

“Woah, woah, woah!” Sgt. Al barks suddenly. “You all can’t just start bringing in evidence you haven’t looked at before the trial like that!”

“What are you talking about?” Velma sighs out.

“The investigation period is _over_ , everyone! You don’t get to present evidence you haven’t already looked at! So if you haven’t looked at the motives I gave you, you don’t get to say anything!”

“How is that fair?!” Jaida demands. “We have the damn things with us right now! Why can’t we look at them?!”

“You had them during the investigation period, too! And way before that! If you didn’t look at your motives, it’s your own damn fault! No more bitching! You can’t look at your motives for the remainder of the trial so long as you haven’t read them yet!”

“You heard him!” Neil barks. “No one looks at their motives! What the hell were you all thinking?!”

“But it was your idea...” Melody mumbles.

Dammit, this is a problem. It seems like no one else has read a crime related to Carrie yet, otherwise they should have said something. If we can’t confirm that either way...but I know Carrie couldn’t have done this. I need a new plan. It’s clear that I can’t simply think of a proper defense.

If I want to end this, I’ll need to lie.

[NON-STOP DEBATE]

“So there’s really a serial killer in the group..?” Melody asks.

“At the very least, we have no one to truly prove one way or the other,” Velma muses aloud, “but we can make an estimated guess Carrie is at least familiar with them to go to these lengths.”

“Will you stop calling me the killer?!” Carrie snaps. “I’m not! I’m not a serial killer, either! That’s not the **crime I committed!** ”

**ABSORB Truth Bullet: Carrie’s Crime**

“But we can’t prove that, can we?” Xavier asks. “We heard what Sgt. Al said.”

Neil blows into his whistle. “ **No one can look at their motives** if they haven’t already seen them!”

“And of course **no one did that!** ” Melody demands. “You all promised not to!”

**LOAD Lie Bullet: Carrie’s Crime**

“THIS IS THE TRUTH!”

“Huh?!” Melody gasps. “Vanessa, what are you--?”

“I’m sorry, Melody...but I looked at my crime as soon as I left the cafeteria that day.”

“Vanessa...you didn’t...” Melody whimpers. At the time, I hadn’t felt bad about it, but now...

“I’m sorry, but...I didn’t trust anyone at the time. Including you. I wanted to make sure I had an idea of what other people in this place were capable of. So I looked at my crime...and it pertained to Carrie.”

Carrie’s head snaps in my direction in an instant. But she wasn’t the only pair of eyes on me. Madame Ruby’s gaze was locked on me, too. She knew I was lying here, but...I had no choice. I just needed to hope she wouldn’t say anything...

“I don’t want to reveal Carrie’s crime out of basic respect for her privacy,” I go on, “but I can assure you all that she’s no serial killer. I’d hardly call what she did violent criminal activity.”

Carrie’s eyes narrow in on me with scrutiny. Damn, I must have been wrong there. But it didn’t matter. As long as no one else has seen her crime, and Madame Ruby and her keep their mouths shut, the others should at least buy it. My expression remains unflinching.

“...I can back up her claim,” Madame Ruby says after a moment. “I apologize, Brooks-chan, but I also looked at the motive I had. Vanessa and I decided to swap information, and she told me Mathers-san’s crime.”

I try not to show my surprise. Was Madame Ruby trusting me? Or...did she believe Carrie as well? I couldn’t very well ask her right now, but I’m thankful she’s backing me up. It seems to be working.

“Vanessa...Madame Ruby...I can’t believe...” Melody still seemed upset, but she shakes her head after a moment. “No, actually...it’s okay. I understand why you’d do it, even if...I don’t agree with it.” She lets out a soft sigh and smiles again. “At least it ended up helping us in the end.”

“So...Carrie’s not the killer?” Axel asks. “Ah, that’s great news! I didn’t wanna keep thinking of my bud like that!”

“...hm...she could be still if it ends up being true there’s no actual serial killer here...” Shimo says gently. “...but...I have to agree with Monroe-san and Madame Ruby-san and their intuition...”

“Can we try to focus on the case again?” I ask after a moment. “Maybe we’ll get somewhere by talking about Daniella. We never really decided why she went to the garden or what she had been doing most of the day.”

“It would be important to discuss her movements!” Super Cat agrees. “We could start by deciding if there’s anyone here we’re sure Daniella would follow someplace.”

“Or anything you could say to her to get her to do so,” Adam adds.

“Well, she not exactly have any friends,” Teddy says. “I felt little bad for her...”

“She didn’t have friends because we all hated her,” Velma replies plainly. “She was a horrible person with no restraint.”

“Ah, yes, her crime...it was even worse than that, I’m afraid,” Madame Ruby says with a thin smile. “But if it’s worth anything to you all...I do believe she carried that shame on her shoulders but was too weak to truly face it.”

I hardly believe that, but this is the schtick of mediums, isn’t it? Say what people want to hear? Telling us all Daniella wasn’t a completely awful bitch would probably be something at least Melody wants to hear if no one else.

“But someone had to get her alone somehow. We just need to figure out how!” Super Cat declares.

[NON-STOP DEBATE]

“Daniella didn’t exactly have any friends,” Velma points out, “so no one here is particularly close enough to her to lure her away.”

“We have to consider who could have done so as well!” Super Cat booms. “Our list of suspects **hasn’t changed yet!** ”

“Right, it’s still the people who left the movie night early or never attended,” Jaida says. “Ah, but I guess not Carrie anymore...”

Carrie huffs softly, looking back down at her tablet with a thin frown. “Which is what I was telling you all the entire time...it had to have been **someone else** that night.”

“Maybe it was the pink one,” Javier says. “He seems to have most of the women here wrapped around his finger!”

“Hey, you don’t have to say it like that!” Xavier demands.

“Well, **someone had to lure Daniella away!** ” Super Cat yells out.

Someone... _had_ to? No, why would someone have to when we know _this_..?

**LOAD Truth Bullet: Daniella’s Strange Behavior**

“NO, YOU’RE WRONG!”

“Eep!” Super Cat let out an uncharacteristic squeak, jumping in place.

“I think there’s a problem with that assertion,” I say, “when there’s more evidence that suggests _Daniella herself_ was trying to isolate someone.”

“What?! Daniella was trying to kill someone?!” the hero yelps.

“Not necessarily. But she was undoubtedly trying to meet privately with someone here. I noticed her waiting for somebody yesterday before dinner. She denied it but she honestly wasn’t very good at hiding it.”

“Ah, that’s right, Daniella was being weird yesterday,” Xavier agrees. “She was wandering around with this big grin and constantly staring at her handbook. She seemed really happy about something she was reading.”

“The only thing on our handbooks she could read would be a map, the rules, and personal information,” Neil says, “and...the motive.”

“But why would Miss Daniella be interested in motive like that?” Teddy asks. “There nothing good about any of it!”

She must have had some interest in the damned things to be grinning like that,” Javier says. “I recall seeing something similar.”

“We won’t know by her handbook,” Alejandria informs. “I already tried to access it, but it wouldn’t work. We have no way to know what was on it.”

“We know what it is in general,” I say. “From there, we can likely figure out what it is she took interest in. If the motive was making Daniella that happy and trying to isolate someone, then it’s very likely her plans were to...”

[MAKE A SELECTION]

>Murder someone

>Talk to someone

>Blackmail someone

_... >Blackmail someone _

“That’s the answer!”

“...blackmail someone. That’s the only intention that makes sense with her behavior!”

“Then whatever crime she ended up getting must have been very serious to think she could gain something out of it,” Xavier says. “Maybe there really is a serial killer here...”

“...that...would make some sense,” Alejandria admits. “If our killer had a crime as serious as that, I could certainly see why someone would want to use it as blackmail material. And...to be blunt, Daniella clear had no foresight or self-control of any kind. I wouldn’t put it past her.”

“Then...it’s true..? There really is a serial killer in the group?!” Melody demands. “That’s...That’s terrifying..! That can’t be true!”

“It’s seeming more likely the more we bring it up,” Velma sighs. “That is...problematic...”

“...so we have only a few suspects left who would also have to be a serial killer,” I say after a moment of contemplation. “We decided it’s not Carrie. That leaves Velma, Adam, Xavier, Teddy, and Neil.”

“That’s not a lot of us...” Super Cat says. “But how do we find out? Has...anyone seen any of their crimes?”

No one speaks. I had seen Xavier’s crime, and I knew it couldn’t be him, but...I very well can’t admit that now. I can feel Madame Ruby’s gaze on me again. I remain calm.

“How did we get on this path again?” Adam asks. “Deciding that the five of us are the final suspects? It’s important that this claim is foolproof, lest we miss someone else.”

“Um...Miss Melody tell us she saw Daniella, yes?” Teddy asks. “During the movie night, she said Daniella came by. So she was still alive then!”

“That’s right!” Melody chirps. “It was during the intermission before the second movie! I know for a fact that I saw her!”

“Which is how we know she died sometime after!” Axel explains. “Because we couldn’t get to the knife or the garden after the movie night ended, so everyone who stayed there all night is safe. I knew the whole thing was a good idea! I bet you guys are super jealous you missed it now!”

That’s right. Daniella was alive during the movie night, so all of us present during that time couldn’t be the killer. Carrie didn’t do it, and despite whatever I said, I know Xavier isn’t a serial killer, either. That means the remaining suspects are between Velma, Adam, Teddy, and Neil. One of them has to be the killer because Daniella came to the auditorium during the movie ni--

Wait...why does...that sound wrong? Something about that sentence isn’t right. Daniella showed up to the movie night? That’s what we were told. That’s what we were all led to believe. But...But that can’t be true. There’s evidence to suggest otherwise. There’s no way Daniella came to the movie night! So then...why...?

...oh...I get it now. I think I really get it now. That...That lie was told to us on purpose. That’s what she planned the whole time. She lied directly to our faces in the most blatant and provable way and we have been following her lead this entire time. No one ever stopped to question it. _I_ didn’t even think twice about what she was saying. That’s just what she was hoping for though, isn’t it? She didn’t want any of us to analyze her words. She just wanted us to believe her and trust her so she could lie to our faces. And the only reason she would have to lie about that is...

“ _Srnk_ ...h-ha...pfffthahahahahahaha!” I couldn’t help it. I just had to laugh. I mean, who wouldn’t? The only thing I could do is laugh like the fucking _fool_ I was. I really trusted her. I really, truly trusted what she was saying as she lied directly to my face. And I didn’t even realize it until now! It was so funny how stupid I was that I just had to laugh!

“V-Vanessa?” Melody yips in surprise. “What’s wrong? Why are you laughing?”

“I didn’t think she had a sense of humor!” Axel says. “...but, uh, I don’t remember hearing a joke.”

“Maybe the pressure has finally gotten to her,” Javier says snippily. “It’s always the calmest that crack first, you know.”

“...Huang-san..?” Shimo asks softly. “...can you tell us what came to mind..?”

“Hahahahahahahahaaa! Aaah...” I let out a heavy sigh as my laughter ends. Now that I had that out of my system, I could feel the pure, unbridled hatred boiling in my chest. I put my hand to my face, still grinning a cruel grin. The others were shrinking back a bit as a dark gaze came from me. It’s time I finally got serious about this trial. No more games. I made a promise to myself that I wouldn’t die here, no matter who stood in my way, no matter who had to die. That includes _her_.

“You really had me going there,” I finally say, still masking my grin behind my hand. Nothing but venom dripped in my tone. “I was eating it up, just like everyone else. All that talk of togetherness and trust and friendship...I can’t believe I actually bought into that bullshit. It’s a good thing I’m not a complete idiot like the rest of them, or you might have actually gotten away with this.”

“Who are you calling idiots?!” Javier demands.

“Miss Vanessa, you are starting to scare me...” Teddy whimpers softly.

“Who are you talking to..?” Carrie asks skeptically.

“...isn’t it obvious?” I ask. “The killer, you morons! I know exactly who they are now...” And I was going to make sure they paid for making a fool out of me!

[SELECT A SUSPECT]

>Vanessa Huang

>Theodore Young

>Carrie Mathers

>Javier Carlito Rodriguez

>Alejandria Carlito Rodriguez

>Madame Ruby

>Jaida Yuki

>Melody Brooks

>Super Cat

>Velma Princeton

>Adam Monroe

>Neil Corbin

>Shimo

>Daniella Hawthrone

>Axel Pyre

>Xavier Harper

“The killer is...you!”

I point my accusing finger at the one person in the room that had to be the killer. The one who had been lying since the start and sent all of us on a wild goose chase. That person was...

_ >Melody Brooks _

“H...Huh..?” Melody gasps, frozen in place. “M-Me..? Vanessa, what--”

“Shut the fuck up,” I snarl. “You don’t get to talk to me anymore. You’re the killer, Melody. That’s the only answer.”

“What are you talking about?” Teddy asks quickly. “How is Miss Melody the killer?! She so nice, and...and besides, she is not one of our suspects!”

“I have to admit, I find the claim difficult to accept myself...” Velma sighs softly. “Ignoring the issues behind the time of death, you’re trying to tell us that someone like Melody is capable of doing that to Daniella? Let alone the probability she’s a serial killer.”

“Yeah, what do you think you’re saying?!” Super Cat declares. “It’s just not possible!”

“I cannot believe this!” Teddy cries out. “There is just no way!”

“After everything we know about Melody, this answer simply doesn’t make sense,” Velma mumbles softly.

“This slander of my friend won’t possibly stand!” Super Cat cries out.

“ **_Melody’s not the killer!_ **” all three demand at once.

Of course, I expected this to happen. None of them have picked up on the lie like I did. They likely don’t even realize the glaring issue staring them right in the face. That’s fine...I’ll show them the truth and end this farce of a trial myself!

[FRACTURED DEBATE]

“There is no way Miss Melody could be the killer!” Teddy declares.

“I can’t imagine our little plum doing something so horrible...” Xavier agrees with a soft frown. “She’s **never hurt someone** before.”

“Vanessa, please, I don’t know why you’re doing this!” Melody begs with a waiver in her voice.

...

“I find it difficult to assume Melody would ever kill somebody...” Velma admits.

“Of course I wouldn’t!” Melody demands. “I’d never do something so horrible!”

“But does that truly prove your innocence, I wonder..?” Madame Ruby giggles to herself.

...

“Melody was **at the movie night** , wasn’t she?” Neil asks.

“Yes, exactly!” Melody cries out.

“Then that proves her innocence!” Teddy declares. “ **We know Miss Daniella was still alive then!** ”

These idiots...they don’t see the lie staring them down, do they? Fine. I’ll reveal the truth!

**LOAD Truth Bullet: Auditorium Lights**

“I HEARD IT THERE!”

“Wha?!” Teddy yelps, eyes wide.

“You’re all failing to see the lie Melody told you,” I explain. “There’s no possible way she saw anyone coming to the auditorium that night!”

“Yes, I did!” Melody demands. “I swear I saw it, Vanessa! Why...Why are you acting this way? You told me that we were friends...and that you’d trust me...” She sniffles, wiping at her face with her sleeve. “You’re scaring me, Vanessa...”

I could feel that rage flaring up in me again and it took a lot of self-control not to snap at her. “Did anyone else notice Daniella coming into the room?” I ask through gritted teeth.

“Why does that matter?” Madame Ruby asks. “Is there a point you’re getting to, Huang-san?”

“Answer the fucking question!” I snap. “Did anyone besides Melody see Daniella come into the room at all?”

There was no answer from those that had attended the movie night. Carrie looks up from her tablet again, brows knitted. “Wait...Vanessa, are you suggesting--”

“It’s not possible,” I say. “There is no possible way we could have all missed Daniella coming in! The auditorium is pitch black when the lights are off, and the only thing illuminating the room was the projector. If anyone had opened that door, whether coming or going, we would have seen the light of the hallway!”

“A-Aaah!” Melody squeaks, looking frazzled.

“Is...Is that true..?” Teddy asks softly.

“It is,” Carrie agrees. “We would have noticed the doors opening, at the very least, but...I don’t recall anything of the sort in the time frame Melody mentioned.”

“Th...That’s...” Melody whimpers softly, starting to shake.

“Is it true, Brooks-chan?” Madame Ruby asks. “Did you lie to us all about what you saw..?”

“I-I...I...” Tears were coming down from behind her glasses. “...sh-she made me...”

“She...who?” Xavier asks.

Melody points a shaking finger at me. “She...She made me lie...to protect her... _Vanessa’s the real killer here!_ ”


	11. Chapter 1: No Crimes Are Created Equal - Deadly Life Trial Part III

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The true killer of this case is revealed! And...it's the last person anyone would have wanted to see as the killer...

“What?!” I snap, finally losing that composure I had tried to hang onto. “You want to try to turn this around on _me_?!”

“I’m sorry everyone...” Melody whimpers. “She made me do it...she cornered me in the kitchen last night and...and told me to defend her o-or else...she’d...” Melody sobs, her body shaking.

“Vanessa, is this true?” Adam asks.

“Of course not!” I respond. “She’s lying to all of you! She’s been lying to all of us since the very start!”

“But it’s true that you were gone between dinner and the start of the movie night,” Adam points out. “However, we can say the same for Melody.”

“But they were together, right?” Jaida asks. “Look at Melody, she’s totally defenseless! Vanessa could have made her say or do anything she wants!”

“We’ve been letting her take charge of this trial the entire time!” Javier demands. “How did no one suspect that could have merely been a part of her ploy?!”

“I discovered the body, it says so in the Monofile!” I say quickly. “According to the rules, it can’t be me!”

“...don’t the rules mention something about ‘extraneous circumstances?’” Carrie asks after a moment. “What does that entail?”

“I’m so glad you asked!” Sgt. Al responds. “See, killing a body doesn’t mean you discovered one all the time. Say someone came in and decided to move around the corpse a bit, and then the killer found it after! That’d count as a discovery, wouldn’t you say?”

“Then alterations the killer is unaware of to the body can make them viable to discover it?”

“That’s exactly it, machine girl! I’ll count a killer discovering the body if the body has changed since the last time they saw it.”

“Such as...the body being decapitated just in time for everyone to find it...” Xavier murmurs to himself.

“Vanessa was one of the first out of bed, too,” Axel says hesitantly. “I...didn’t really think to pay attention where she was going, so...she could have...”

“I’m telling you all, Vanessa is the killer!” Melody sobs. “You all have to believe me!”

This...This can’t be happening. They’re all listening to her. I called out her lie and she managed to turn everyone against me! I need to find that leverage again. If this keeps going, then they’re all going to think..!

[NON-STOP DEBATE]

“If it’s true that Daniella didn’t show up to the movie night, then she could have died at **any point after dinner,** ” Carrie states. “That’s not a lot more time, and most of us were in the auditorium by then anyway.”

“But not Melody or Vanessa!” Axel says. “They were on snack duty!”

“That would have given Vanessa plenty of time to take the knife, kill Daniella, and threaten Melody into silence,” Neil explains.

“It...It was so scary...” Melody whimpers softly.

“She could have taken the firework at any point that same day,” Velma muses to herself. “Then Vanessa and Melody would have come to the auditorium **together**.”

“Then it’s just a matter of waiting until morning to set up the body so she can discover it!” Jaida says. “We’ve got it all figured out now!”

I can’t let this keep going. If this lie goes on, and everyone starts to listen to Melody then...

**LOAD Truth Bullet: Vanessa’s Account**

“NO, YOU’RE WRONG!”

Velma blinks, looking a bit frazzled as I yelled out. “...what?”

“Melody and I didn’t go to the auditorium together,” I say. “She’d left me while I was still making the snacks. There was nearly fifteen minutes before I had actually arrived at the auditorium with the food cart.”

“Ah...hm...” Velma frowns softly, putting a hand over her mouth as she thinks.

“That’s what I remember, too,” Carrie comments. “Well...not exactly. Melody had come in maybe two minutes before Vanessa did, but they definitely didn’t arrive together.”

I frown softly. “Two minutes before I--oh...so that was a lie, too, wasn’t it?” I ask with a deadpan. “Melody...when you left the kitchen, where did you really go?”

“Wh-What do you mean..?” Melody asks. “I went to the auditorium! You’re the one who’s--”

“But why would Huang-san let you do that if she was the killer?” Madame Ruby asks. “Even if it was merely a two minute difference, leaving you alone for even a moment where you could tell anyone of what she’s done...why, it seems inconceivable that someone as calculating as her would make such a mistake!”

“...Super Cat-san and I were present as well...” Shimo says softly. “...you could have easily come to us for help if you were in danger...”

“Th-That’s...That’s not...” Melody was at a loss for words again, her body shaking worse. “P-Please, I was scared, she...she did it! I’m telling you, the killer is Vanessa!”

“I...I don’t know if I can simply disbelieve Melody yet...” Super Cat says weakly. “After everything she’s tried to do for us...”

“I’m still struggling to see it myself,” Xavier admits. “Vanessa already has a glare strong enough to kill, so I wouldn’t be shocked if she was, too.” He smiles, but it’s strained and worried.

“But Melody has just as much opportunity to kill Daneilla,” Carrie points out. “She would make just as good of a culprit. We don’t have any reason to listen to her over Vanessa.”

“I’m afraid I’ll have to believe in Huang-san in this case,” Madame Ruby says with a smile. “Oh, but please, don’t feel pressured to agree with me just yet.”

“Hm...sounds like we’ve got a split opinion!” Sgt. Al rumbles from his desk. “...too bad I don’t have anything to fix that. Hm...”

“Uh...ignoring that,” Super Cat says. “It seems like we have a serious issue on our hands. If we want to move forward, we’ll need something more definitive. We all have to be on the same page for this to work.”

“Fine by me,” I say. “In fact, I know exactly what to say. I have something that only Melody could have gotten her hands on, and that should finally get you all to see--”

“I will be strong now!” Teddy cries out, cutting me off.

“...what now?” I frown, looking in Teddy's direction. The larger students had a frown on his face, his hands clutched tightly at his chest.

“I...I am going to protect Miss Melody!” Teddy demands. “I will not let you say such awful things about her, Miss Vanessa! I know she would never do something so horrible!”

Well, I can’t say it’s shocking to me that Teddy of all people is buying into her shit this easily. Whatever, he’s really not a threat to me. I’ll shut his trap soon enough.

[CROSS SWORDS IMMINENT]

/ _“Miss Melody would never do something that horrible!”_ /

/ _“She is our friend, she has been the entire time!”_ /

/ _“Miss Melody has done nothing_ **_but try to help us!_ ** _”_ /

**LOAD Truth Blade: Matches**

“Theodore, for the love of god, open your damn eyes! Melody has been using all of us for this exact reason! That’s even how she got her hands on something only she could have obtained!”

**[ADVANCE!]**

/ _“N-No...there has to be mistake we are all making somewhere!”_ /

/ _“Miss Melody has been sweet and friendly and kind to all of us, no matter what!”_ /

/ _“She_ **_never had chance_ ** _to betray us like this!”_ /

**LOAD Truth Blade: Matches**

“I’LL CUT DOWN YOUR WORDS!”

“But...B-But...” Teddy had tears brimming in his eyes, his shoulders shaking. “She never...”

“She did,” I retort. “She did it before we even got the motive, in fact. Do you all remember when Daniella initially attacked Axel? She knocked his hat off of his head. And the person that picked it up...was Melody.”

“S-So what?” Melody demands. “Axel loves that hat, so I wanted to make sure he got it back!”

“Another thing to keep in mind,” I say, ignoring her, “is that we found three of Axel’s matches left in the garden, likely used to ignite the firework that broke the glass ceiling.”

“V-Vanessa, please...stop...” Melody whimpers.

“Axel keeps all of his matches in his hat. And that is the only time anyone could have gotten their hands on them!”

“...she...she did come back to my room to give it to me...” Axel mumbles softly. “I didn’t think to count the matches at the time...but...”

“I didn’t really think anything of it at the time...” Super Cat admits. “But when you explain it like that...”

“Think about this for a moment!” Melody demands. “Really! You’re...You’re all accusing me of something horrible! You’re saying that I’m not just the person that killed Daniella, but an actual serial killer! Don’t you hear how crazy that is?!”

“But...you fit the bill of the entire murder to a T...” Xavier admits. “What else are we supposed to think now..? Those matches, the fireworks, the movie night...you were around for all of that. You...”

“I’m not a serial killer!” Melody demands again, more desperate than before. “What even makes you think I could be?! What would connect me to something as awful as the Bookworm Butcher?!”

What could connect Melody to this killer? The answer seems pretty obvious, but like hell I’ll let someone else try to say it and give her a chance to twist it around. The thing that connects Melody is...

[MAKE A SELECTION]

>Vanessa’s Account

>Mayview Massacre

>Movie Night

_... >Mayview Massacre _

“That’s the answer!”

“What about that book Adam’s holding?” I ask. “ _Mayview Massacre_ , the story that made him suspect that a serial killer might even be here. A book that you’re familiar with.”

“I...o-of course I’m familiar with it!” Melody yells. “I’m the Ultimate Librarian, why wouldn’t I be familiar with the works of someone like the Ultimate Author?!”

“Wouldn’t someone who has the time to read that many books be an apt suspect for a serial killer like this? You even told me yourself--you remember the ending of every book you read. So it’s not a stretch to assume you’d have no issues remembering how murders within them are constructed.”

“G-Ghhh--!” Melody lets out a strained sound, taking a step back and tightly clutching her scarf. “Y-You..!”

“I’m...assuming we don’t have a way to confirm this fact?” Carrie asks. “While all of that is fitting together, and I highly suspect Melody at the moment, it’d be hypocritical of me to act as anything other than devil’s advocate right now. Can we confirm the identity of Melody as a serial killer?”

...can we? We can’t check out tablets right now, assuming any of us even have Melody’s motive. But...maybe...

[NON-STOP DEBATE]

“Someone like the Ultimate Librarian would make an **excellent candidate** for a book-themed serial killer,” Axel admits. “It seems almost painfully obvious now!”

“The pieces fit together, even if someone like Melody is difficult to imagine as someone so cruel...” Velma murmurs.

“I’m not a killer!” Melody demands. “Please, you all know me!”

“Do we know you..?” Alejandria asks. “How can we be so certain?”

“Because you all know what crime I committed! I told you all before, **I stole books from bookstores!** ”

“Without a way to check, can we disprove that..?” Super Cat asks softly.

That’s what Melody has told us from the very start. But now...I can see it was just another lie, something to make us let our guard down. And I know that because of this!

**LOAD Truth Bullet: Daniella’s Handbook**

“NO, YOU’RE WRONG!”

“B-But that’s the truth..!” Melody demands. “I swear on my life, that’s the whole truth!”

“Oh, really?” I ask. “Because if that is the truth, then I have to wonder...why doesn’t Daniella’s handbook work?”

“Wh...What..?” Melody asks softly. “How would I know?!”

“Maybe it was just sabotaged?” Teddy asks. “It not like that would be hard, right..?”

“What kinda shoddy business do you think I’m runnin’ here?!” Sgt. Al demands. “Those handbooks are practically indestructible! They’re durable, waterproof, shockproof, fireproof, AND idiot-proof! I proofed them so much, that it’d take an entire apocalypse to make them stop working!”

“Do you shut them off when a person dies?” Alejandria asks. “I wasn’t able to access Daniella’s handbook despite her fingerprints.”

“Nope! Listen to what I just said--NOTHING is going to make those tablets stop working! That’s a fact you can count on!”

“Then...why wouldn’t it unlock?” Neil asks the rest of us. “What was wrong with it?”

“Nothing was wrong with it,” I say. “In fact, it sounds like the handbook would work just fine as long as you used the fingerprints of its owner--isn’t that right, _Melody?_ ”

All eyes turn to the librarian, who was shaking at her stand, holding her scarf tightly with a frown. “What...What are you saying..? That I...left my handbook with Daniella? How would I get into my room if I did that?!”

“Did you go to your room?” Xavier asks. “I don’t remember paying too much attention to which bedroom you were going in, actually.”

“...you could have easily gone to Hawthorne-san’s room for the night...” Shimo says. “...so long as you had swapped handbooks...”

“And that would ensure we couldn’t check Daniella’s handbook when the investigation began,” I explain. “Because if we had? We almost certainly would have walked into the trial to vote out Melody in seconds!”

“You can’t prove it!” Melody demands. “There’s no way to prove whose handbook that even was!”

“You have yours on you, don’t you?” Carrie asks. “Turn it on.”

“...h-huh..?”

“If the handbook you have in your possession right now is, in fact, your handbook, then you should have absolutely no issue gaining access to it with your fingerprints. So turn it on.”

“That’s...That’s not...I can’t, I...I-I...”

“It’s...really Melody then..?” Super Cat asks, disheartened. “She...She killed Daniella..?”

“I know she was a bitch but...that’s seriously fucked up...” Jaida mutters. “What the hell, dude?”

“Not only that but she’s a serial killer,” Adam reminds. “This isn’t her first victim. And she likely never intended for it to be her last.”

“Y-You all...really think...” Melody says softly, her face pale and clammy.

“It’s time to give up,” I say. “This trial is over, Melody!”

“O...ver...” Melody repeats slowly. “N...No...it can’t be...” Tears were starting to flow down her face again, the librarian now openly sobbing. “It’s wrong...you’re all wrong! I’m telling you, it’s...it’s not me..!”

“We’re not going to listen to your shit anymore!” I snap again. “So end this farce immediately!”

“No!” Melody screams back at me. “No, it can’t end here! There’s something you all still haven’t figured out--something that proves my innocence! And until that’s decided...then...then I won’t let this trial end! Not here! Not like this!”

Melody’s finally losing it. She’s screaming and desperate. She’s going to babble and yell and cry until she drowns out everyone else. I won’t let it end like that. The only way this trial will end is with her death!

[PANIC TALK ACTION]

_“I’m not the killer! You can’t prove it!”_

“I’m sick of this act and these lies, Melody!”

_“All I’ve ever done is try to help, so why...why are you all treating me like this?!”_

“I won’t die here, dammit! You won’t get your victory!”

_“Please...I didn’t do it...stop saying that I did!”_

“This trial will end with your head! That is for certain!”

**_“You never found the murder weapon! Without that, you can never prove that I’m the killer!”_ **

**Scarf In Your Side**

**In Side Scarf Your**

**_Inside your scarf_ **

“THIS TRIAL IS OVER!”

“ **_NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!_ **” Melody let out a final, defeated wail of defiance.

**[BREAK!]**

“There’s one place the weapon would still be,” I say. “You couldn’t put it back in the kitchen without alerting us that you left the movie night. And once the night was over, the nighttime announcement had played, so you couldn’t put it back. Come morning, Xavier would be in the kitchen, meaning you couldn’t put it there, either. It wasn’t left in any of the bedrooms, and it would be too easy to spot in your pockets. So the place the knife has been, ever since you killed Daniella...is inside your own scarf!”

“M...M-My...inside...my...” Melody was shell-shocked, clutching her scarf tightly in her hands.

“She’s been fidgeting with it a lot since we started to corner her,” Madame Ruby states. “I’ve never seen her do such a thing before.”

“Take it off, please...” Teddy says weakly. “I...I want trial to end, Miss Melody...”

Melody didn’t respond, still gripping her scarf with shaking hands. Her breathing was ragged, but it was difficult to see how she felt with those massive glasses over her eyes.

Wordlessly, Super Cat grabs onto Melody’s scarf. She doesn’t fight it, letting him pull it away in a quick motion. A knife clatters at Melody’s feet, stained in dry blood, her scarf fluttering on top of it soon after.

“O-Oh my god!” Javier shrieks. “She actually has it!”

“Dear lord...” Velma mutters into her hand, worry etched onto her features. “This whole time, she...”

“M-Miss Melody...” Teddy whimpers softly, tears rolling down his cheeks. “You...Y-You...”

“...bravo, Vanessa...bravo...” the librarian croaks softly. “You really had me going there, you know..? I thought maybe I had gotten your trust but...it seems, in the end, I was the one played the fool. You’re a smart girl...why don’t you explain to everyone what’s going on here?”

I scowl softly. Disgusting...but if it’ll make sure there’s no doubt left, then I’ll do it. I’ll put it all together and end this miserable trial!

[CLOSING ARGUMENT]

“This case is something that has been in development since the announcement of the killing game. This entire time, the killer has been getting us to trust them over the days we spent here leading up to the eventual death of Daniella. It’s unlikely the killer had a plan from the start, but they were merely preparing for one. This includes telling everyone a fake crime they committed to seem less dangerous, repeatedly attempting to work with us, and even stealing some matches from Axel’s hat without anyone noticing. All of this leads up to the reveal of our motive, which is what pushed the killer into action.

“Someone here now had information pertaining to the killer’s true crime, which was one that couldn’t be let lose--they are a serial killer, and if anyone found out, it could have brought everything down around them. They had to either ensure no one would look at the crimes they got or find the person who had it. They tried the first option, but the second option walked right up to them. Daniella was the one who had gotten this person’s crime, a person who she had ample reason to dislike. So it would only be natural she would try to use it against this person. In the end, though, her manipulation would prove useless. She managed to convince the killer to meet with her after dinner, likely to blackmail them in some way.

“The killer had other plans. They intended to get rid of Daniella, now that she’d become such a liability. So, the killer joined me in the kitchen that night under the guise of helping me prepare snacks for movie night. In reality, it was so they could steal a knife right from under my nose. They even made sure I bought into their nonsense before leaving. I was told they were going to help Axel with preparing the movies, but that was never the case. The killer instead went to the garden, where they intended to meet with Daniella.

“It’s unlikely their discussion was long or difficult. Daniella was seated on a bench in the back of the room already, and when the killer approached, they almost immediately attacked her by slashing her throat. Daniella wouldn’t be able to scream in that instance, and she bled out right there on the bench. The killer then swapped out her handbook with their own, to ensure none of us could access it during the investigation. After that, the killer simply had to stash the knife in their scarf and hurry back to the auditorium before I arrived to feign innocence. Their plan, however, doesn’t end there.

“The killer was able to swipe one of Axel’s fireworks in the dark of the auditorium, before the movies began, and stash it in their scarf alongside the knife, as one of the three people that knew of the surprise show beforehand. The killer even fabricated a lie for this time to throw us off, claiming Daniella had come by that night but left without staying. The issue with this lie is that those doors could not be opened without a notable amount of light coming in, which is why the killer couldn’t leave to dispose of the knife that night. Their plan wouldn’t be able to continue until tomorrow, in fact, due to the garden locking with the nighttime announcement.

“The killer would go to the garden as soon as the morning begins, planting the stolen firework in there and lighting its fuse using a stolen match from Axel. This firework would go off as soon as Super Cat, Madame Ruby, and I entered the garden to investigate. The shower of glass from the glass ceiling was the intended result, meant to hide the true cause of Daniella’s death. And this little trick? The killer read it out of a murder mystery from the library. That was this serial killer’s calling card, after all. And the only person who could have possibly orchestrated all of this was you! Melody Brooks, the Ultimate Librarian, is the killer!”

As I finish, Melody begins to clap slowly. She had picked up her scarf again and put it on. The knife was no longer on the floor, but it wasn’t anywhere to be seen, either. The librarian’s expression was...unreadable.

“I really must congratulate you,” Melody says. “I didn’t think anyone here would be able to tie all the pieces together like that. And I really did try so hard to garner everyone’s trust. All it took was one slip of the tongue, a lie so simple that even I didn’t notice the contradiction before it all slipped away...” She smiles slightly. “Maybe I’ll write a poem about it. What do you think, Velma?”

Velma scowls silently. Melody lets out a gentle sigh. “Ah...right, I suppose you’re not in the mood to talk about poetry now, huh..?”

“Before you talk more,” Sgt. Al yaps, “it seems like you reached a conclusion! So, it’s time for the vote! There are screens on your podiums that you can use! Select the face of the person you think is the killer, and I’ll tally the results!”

[VOTE FOR THE KILLER]

>Vanessa Huang

>Theodore Young

>Carrie Mathers

>Javier Carlito Rodriguez

>Alejandria Carlito Rodriguez

>Madame Ruby

>Jaida Yuki

>Melody Brooks

>Super Cat

>Velma Princeton

>Adam Monroe

>Neil Corbin

>Shimo

>Daniella Hawthrone

>Axel Pyre

>Xavier Harper

_ >Melody Brooks _

“That’s right, maggots!” Sgt. Al barks out. “The killer of our fizzled star, Daniella Hawthorne, is the blood-shedding baddy, Melody Brooks!”

Melody sighs. “And I really did think I was doing so well...but I guess I’m getting rusty if I failed this badly for the second time.”

“You...You are talking about this so casually...” Teddy says weakly.

“What? Am I not supposed to?” Melody questions. She smirks. “I killed a girl, so what? I basically did you all a favor; Daniella was such a miserable person to have around.”

“Then...this is who you really are...” Alejandria scowls, her hand resting on her dagger again. “A vile person that freely takes the lives of others with such callousness...”

“We all have our hobbies,” Melody sniffs, clearly not as upset as the rest of us. She cups her cheek and smiles warmly. “But give me a bit of credit, okay? It’s not like I was going to do this from the start. I actually walked in planning reform! I mean, it was between that and a death sentence, so my choices were limited...but I was willing to try!”

“You speak like this is about an addiction of some kind!” Javier snaps. “This is serial murder! You kill people for God's sake!”

“It is an addiction!” Melody says with a wide grin. “I can’t tell you all how good it feels to be doing this. To end another life, snuff it out entirely with your own hands--and then getting away with it in the end? No one even realizing you did something so horrible and unforgivable?! Ah!” Melody shivers. “It gives me chills! It’s better than any drug out there!”

“She’s fucking crazy!” Jaida demands.

“I-It’s fine!” Super Cat reassures quickly. “I’m here, I’ll make sure she can’t do anything to anyone!”

Melody sighs and crosses her arms. “Oh, calm down, everyone. I’m done. Sgt. Al told me he’d execute me on the spot if I tried to kill anyone in the trial anyway so...” She trails off, looking almost disappointed. “It’s not fun if there’s no mystery to it, anyway. I can’t say I’m super creative, so that’s why I like to recreate the murders from books I read! It’s so exciting making all the pieces fit together and fall into place! I really had to work through Daniella’s neck to make sure the glass would lob it off, I’m really glad it worked! But all that time I spent working on it then changing my clothes seems to have been part of my downfall...”

I was getting sick of listening to her. She _used_ me. She wore me down, got me to open up, and I gave her my trust and she used it to kill someone. And now? She stands here, speaking casually as if it didn’t matter. Like it was all just a game to her. I wanted to throttle her! I somehow managed to stay at my own podium, though.

“What was...everything you were telling us, though..?” Teddy asks softly. “About working together and...and getting along. You were the one telling us all not to give in, Miss Melody!”

Melody snorts and takes off her glasses. It reveals her green eyes, which glared at all of us with a sharp and cold gaze. “That? It was all bullshit, just like Vanessa said. I was prepared to kill as soon as it needed to happen. Heck, I wasn’t even planning to kill Daniella at first! I really wasn’t going to kill anyone, even when the killing game was announced...but things just turned out differently. She dragged me aside before dinner to ‘chat’ about what she got in her motive. I figured it would be fine, you know? But then when we met again after dinner, she had the audacity to try and blackmail me. Me! An actual serial killer! At that point, I decided there was no loss, and,” Melody drags her thumb along her throat, “sliced her throat open on the spot. She was dead in seconds.”

“That’s it!” Super Cat demands. “I’m...I’m done listening to this! Melody...if you’re the Bookworm Butcher or...or whatever...then I’ll have to make sure you are locked away when we get out of here!”

Melody rolls her eyes. “Super Cat, you’re a real nice guy--I mean it, a total sweetheart...but you’re also a complete idiot. I know that I’m a serial killer, and I seem like I’m kind of an asshole because, well, I kinda kill people! But I don’t kill any random person, and I _certainly_ don’t kill people that don’t deserve it. I have a moral compass, I’ll have you know! I would hope someone like you might agree with my choice of victims.”

“That hardly excuses anything you’re doing,” Adam sighs. “Not to mention, you were fully prepared to let us all get executed.”

“Well, hey, I had my reasons,” Melody huffs, pouting. “I knew Daniella wanted that stupid leader title back, it’s the only reason she decided to blackmail me! I figured it’d just be easier to kill her outright--she was an awful person, you know. She made Axel cry, she kept screaming at us and trying to assault people, she was rude and unhelpful. I’d hardly say she’s someone to cry over.”

“That shouldn’t be something for you to decide!” Super Cat demands. “You don’t get to claim who’s allowed to live and die! And don’t talk to me like I’d ever agree to kill. There’s no excuse possible that justifies it!”

“Well, what do you guys think?” Melody asks the rest of us. “Am I some big bad villain because I get rid of the people who just exist to make everyone else miserable? Bullies, abusers, bigots-- _those_ are the kinds of people I target. It’s their fault I’m like this, you know. I mean, look at me--I’m a short, chubby girl who reads for a hobby. I spent my entire life getting shoved around and picked on by other people. I was always the weak one, the target. And when I finally stood up to myself and gutted the head honcho of the popular girls from school that’d shove me in puddles and throw my books into the mud and tear at my clothes...god, it felt _so_ good. I felt powerful watching her die! I don’t regret a single moment of it. I can at least say I was justified in my choices, even if the rest of you don’t agree!”

“Shut up!” I finally say. “Just shut up! I don’t want to hear another word out of your twisted mouth, dammit! The trial’s over, you’re guilty, so just--”

“Die?” Melody asks. “I know, that’s what you want, isn’t it? You want to watch me die and get some sick satisfaction out of it.” She grins wide, directing it right at me. “I know exactly how you feel...I really am sorry things turned out the way they did, Vanessa. I really did like your company! I looked up to you, just a little...I wish I could have been as strong as you growing up. But I found my strength with the blade of a knife to make up for what I lacked.” She lets out a wistful sigh. “I’m sorry I had to use you as I did, but I didn’t have a lot of options when you started backing me into a corner like that. It was so impressive though. You’re real protagonist material!”

I stopped talking again, gritting my teeth together. Bullshit...she’s full of bullshit! Her words are making me sick to my stomach, I don’t want to hear another damn one! If she tries to talk to me or about me again, I’ll end her life myself!

Melody lets out a soft sigh and looks in Sgt. Al’s direction, her hands folded over her skirt. “You can let me go now, like we agreed.”

Neil’s brows furrow. “Let you...go? What are you talking about? You’re going to be executed!”

Melody looks back to the rest of us. “Oh? No, I don’t quite think so. See, Sgt. Al and I have come to an agreement. I was meant to work on his side, and he lets me go even if I lose the trial. All I had to do was make sure you guys played the killing game.” She cups her cheek, smiling warmly. “I’d say I did a good job of it.”

“You did an amazing job!” Sgt. Al responds. “So, let’s get to the execution!”

Melody’s warm smile drops to an ice-cold scowl. Her eyes snap back to Sgt. Al. “What did you just say?”

“I said execution!” Sgt. Al demands. “You thought you were going to get out of this scot-free? As if! You still gotta survive! If you can get out of the execution alive, then I’ll give you what you want--your freedom and a clean record. But that’s a big if!”

“What?!” Melody yells out. “That wasn’t the deal! You said I could leave!”

“I didn’t say _how_ ,” the gator replies.

“You...You can’t do this!” Melody snaps. “This is an outrage--I did everything you said I had to!”

“I had a very special punishment prepared for Melody Brooks, the Ultimate Librarian!”

Melody’s eyes widen as she realizes he wasn’t going to entertain her anymore. Her attention returns to the rest of us instead. “This...This wasn’t the plan. I knew I shouldn’t have...” she trails off, biting her lip for a second, clearly thinking. Then, she yelled out, “...I’m not the only one! There’s another traitor in your group, working for Sgt. Al!”

“So let’s give it everything we’ve got!”

“And not just that, but someone else. Someone even more dangerous!”

“It’s PUNISHMENT TIIIIIIME!”

“The mastermind walks among the group!”

Melody yelled out one last desperate phrase before Sgt. Al slammed down his gavel with a responding bang on a button that had appeared on the center of his desk. Melody broke away from her podium and went into a sprint, dashing madly for the elevator with a primal scream. But she never even made it halfway through the room.

A section of the wall opens and a chain flies out. It snaps a clamp down on Melody’s neck, stopping her dead in her tracks. She lets out another scream, trying to pull the chain off as it reels backward, dragging the librarian with it and out of sight. As her screaming dies down, a video begins to play on the screens of our podiums.

**Melody Brooks has been found guilty!**

**Commencing the punishment...**

Melody lands on the ground with a grunt, slowly pushing herself up to her feet. She was standing in a library, the building made entirely of wood to give it a rustic atmosphere. She stood on top of a nice red rug and was surrounded by books and furniture for people to sit at. She was breathing heavily, looking worried as she glanced around. There was a door on the other side of the room, likely the exit. She takes a single step forward...and it all goes up in smoke.

The source wasn’t seen, but fire suddenly started to spread through the room. Sweat began to trickle down the librarian’s face, her path forward now a roaring fire that was starting to char the wood black and burn up the books on the shelves. Something moves in the flames, catching Melody’s eye. She only got a second to step back as a shadowy figure slashed at her, cutting her cheek on their knife.

**The Burning of the Library of Melody**

Melody lands on her butt with a grunt, quickly putting a hand to her cheek where the blood was flowing. The figure with a knife was moving closer, unbothered by the roaring fires raging around them. Melody backs up, looking around in a growing panic. Most exits seemed blocked off by fire, which didn’t leave her many options. She gets back to her feet and takes off her cardigan. She uses it as a shield from the fire as she goes charging forward.

Melody breaks through the flames that were eating up the rug under her. The figure slashes again, catching her arm and slicing it open. She winces, putting a hand over her open wound. She doesn’t stop running. She tries to get across the room, but one of the heavy bookshelves finally topples over, landing with a heavy thud in front of Melody. The entire thing was burning to cinders, so she couldn't climb over it.

She goes around instead, taking another slice from the always closer figure. She cries out and stumbles forward, a massive slash along her back now. She keeps her footing, moving a bit slower as she keeps charging forward.

She got out of the main library, entering the front lobby. There was a burning checkout counter, stairs that had caved in for a second floor, and the front door that seemed miraculously untouched by the fire. It was her way out and she picked up the pace to get there. She’s grabbed by a hand and thrown back, landing on her back with another pained cry. The shadowy figure descended on her in a moment, knife raised with the intention to drive it through her chest. Melody, however, struck back first with the same knife she’d used to kill Daniella. She rams it right into the figure’s throat, black blood gushing out around the blade.

The figure drops their knife and Melody shoves them off of her, getting back to her feet. She was tired, singed, dirty, and bloody...but she was alive. She trudges forward as flames engulf more of the library. She reaches out with shaking hands and grabs the doorknobs, a grin crossing her face. She pushes the door open, revealing the bright light of the outside world. And then a horrible cracking sound fills the air as burnt wood splinters and breaks.

Melody looks up, getting one moment to let out a short scream before a flaming bookshelf comes falling through the weakened floorboards. It lands on top of her with a crash, blocking off the front door and splattering the blackened floor with bright red gore, leaving nothing a mangled corpse left to burn away with everything else under the shelving.

**MELODY BROOKS HAS BEEN SUCCESSFULLY EXECUTED!**

The execution fades to black. Melody was dead. She got everything she had coming to her for what she did to me...to all of us. I should be happy; satisfied, even. This is what I said I wanted. This is the ending I desired. And yet...I’m not. I can’t even pretend to feel that way. I just feel empty and disgusted and upset and angry and sick. I stare at the black screen, waiting for it to give me the pleasure I was wanting from watching her die. I never received it.

The others were handling the entire ordeal a lot worse than I was.

“O-Oh my god...” Super Cat whispers, his body frozen in place.

“I...I can’t understand it...” Jaida says weakly. “What the fuck was that..? I-It doesn’t make any sense..!”

“This...This is what you meant by execution..?” Velma asks, a thin frown on her face. “That...was nothing less than complete torture.”

Teddy was sobbing, wiping at his face messily with his sleeve. “M-M-Miss Melody...why...?”

“ _No entiendo. ¡¿Qué fue eso?! Alejandria, ¡¿qué demonios acabamos de ver?!_ ” Javier screeches, clinging to his sister’s arm with a death grip. The knight in question was completely quiet.

“Her soul will never be at peace with a death like that...” Madame Ruby murmurs, frowning for once in her life. She clasps her hands together and closes her eyes in silent prayer.

The chatter in the room was starting to all blur together in my head as that thick static started taking off. I was breathing heavily, gripping my podium with tight hands. The world around me was fading out of focus, leaving me with just myself.

What was that? Why...Why is this happening to us..? She’s fucking dead. Why did I tell myself that’s what I want? That wasn’t what I wanted. I...I can’t handle this. I’m going to be sick. I’m going to go crazy. I’m going to die.

...I...I’m going to die...aren’t I? I’m going to die here...someone else is going to snap. I painted a massive target on my back after this trial. Anyone with half a brain would make sure to get rid of the most competent person in the trial. I’m going to die here, or my life is going to constantly be in danger.

Do I...have what it takes? If it comes down to it, and I’m backed into a corner, can I kill someone? Can I...Can I actually do that..? I could get away with it. Hide evidence, lead the trial like normal, lie to their faces until they can’t argue with my logic. They’ll vote for someone else and they’ll all die and I can leave and survive and go home and never, ever think about this and these disgusting feelings drowning out my thoughts ever again. I just...I just have to kill someone. All I have to do...is...is...

I felt a hand on my shoulder. I let out a scream, lurching forward and crashing right into my podium. I slide down to a sitting position, my body shaking violently. This is it. I’m going to be killed. I’ll end up like Daniella and Melody; a rotting corpse, blood and gore sprayed around for all to see, leaving a sickening smell in the air that’ll make my stomach twist in pain and drown out my thoughts. I’m going to die, I’m going to die, I’m going to die, I’m going to--

“V-Vanessa?” Super Cat asks hesitantly. I look up with wide eyes, seeing the superhero standing over me with nothing but concern in his golden eyes. “Hey, it’s...it’s just me. Your friendly local superhero.” He tries to sound confident, but his voice cracked and his hands were shaking.

I was still breathing heavily, my body barely in control of myself. I could feel more eyes on me. Everyone must be looking at me right now. I look down so I don’t meet any of their eyes. “D...D-Don’t...” I wasn’t sure what I was about to ask, but I don’t get the rest of the words out. It gets cut off by a sob that I hadn’t even realized was there.

I wanted to curl in on myself and disappear, but I couldn’t as Super Cat hoisted me back to my feet. We must have been allowed to leave because he pulled me along to the elevator where the others had started to gather. Once the fourteen of us were inside, the doors closed behind us and we were taken back to the facility.

I was silent the whole time. If the others spoke, I didn’t register it. I was just in a haze now. The doors to the elevator opens and I’m led out by Super Cat. He says something to me, concerned. I don’t speak.

I ended up in my room after that. I wasn’t sure if I got there myself or if Super Cat left me here. It was late and dark. I was exhausted. I slip into bed, staring at the ceiling. I hadn’t stopped shaking.

Melody’s final words are still ringing in my head, just below the fuzz of my headache. That last warning. _A mastermind walks among the group._

**Chapter 1: No Crimes Are Created Equal [END!]**

**Surviving Inmates: 14/16**

****


End file.
